When Love's Gone Country

Chapter Twenty-Seven



Purity saw Alex carrying someone, but couldn’t tell who. Courtney was leaning on Brad. Even from her vantage point, she thought Court looked pale.

Pure got out of the golf cart and walked toward them.

“Get back in,” Alex said. “We’ve got to get Jacob to the hospital.”

“Where’s Frank and Emma?” Brad asked.

“I’ve been leaving messages for them. They’re not answering their phones. How did Jacob get here?”

Purity returned to the cart and sat in the back. She planned on keeping a close watch on both Jacob and Courtney.

When they reached the golf cart, Alex laid Jacob gently in the back seat, his head resting on Purity’s lap. “Keep him on his side, if you can. He swallowed a lot of water.”

“He’s barely breathing,” Purity said, feeling for a pulse. It was there, but very faint.

“The bastards held him at gunpoint and made him go in the river to look for the cave,” Alex said.

“Red and Bart?”

“No. Two other guys.”

Alex got behind the wheel and Courtney sat in Brad’s lap.

“Slow and steady,” Brad said. “Your air will come back.”

Courtney didn’t say anything. She concentrated on breathing in and out. It felt like something was blocking her airway. She leaned into Brad’s embrace, trying to match his breathing rhythm with her own.

Alex turned the cart around and headed back toward the ranch.

“Slow up on the turns,” Brad said.

“I remember,” Alex said, releasing his foot from the gas pedal and allowing the cart to slow down before attempting the turn.

Jacob coughed several times. Water slid from his mouth each time.

Purity rubbed his back. “You’re going to be okay. We’ve got you. You’re safe now. Just hang in there.”

“Where is everyone?” Alex said, frustration making his words harsher than he intended. “There’s usually a ton of people milling around and today, when we need someone, there’s no one to be found.”

Alex headed up the small incline to the main house. Once there, he ran inside to find Emma and Frank. He searched every room, calling their names, but no one replied. He used a landline phone to call 911. They promptly informed him that the nearest hospital was forty-five minutes away in Milton.

“We may not have forty-five minutes.”

“You say you’re at the Double Y?”

“Yes.”

“Frank’s copter will get you here in ten, take it.”

“He has a helicopter here on the ranch?”

“Sure. Most of ‘em do ‘round these parts. It makes it easier to find stray cattle when you’ve got so much land to search.”

Alex hung up the phone and returned to the cart. “Anyone know how to fly a helicopter?”

Charlie Mankins approached the group. “You need to go somewhere?”

“To the hospital in Milton.”

“I know how to fly. I’ve got over three hundred miles logged.”

“Do you know where Frank keeps the key?”

“Yeah. I know where all the vehicle keys are.”

“Then you’re our man.”

“We should go get Meg and Bobby,” Purity said.

“No one’s around,” Charlie said. “It’s like they all just got up and took off all at once.”

Purity frowned. “We have to get Jacob and Court to the hospital, then we can worry about everyone else.”

“Charlie, are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Brad asked.

“I can understand why you’d be wonderin’, but I’m real careful. I wouldn’t let anything happen to anyone on my watch. I’ll go get the keys.”

Charlie headed into the house.

“We don’t all need to go. Pure, you can look after Jacob and Brad can take care of Courtney. I’m going to go find out what the hell’s going on around here.”

“Be careful,” Purity said.

“You, too.”

Charlie got behind the wheel of the golf cart and drove them to one of the many areas of the ranch they hadn’t seen yet. Sure enough, there was a helicopter sitting in the middle of a painted yellow square.

“There’s only room enough for four in here. One of you will need to hang back.”

Purity and Brad exchanged glances. “You stay, Purity. I can lift Jacob and Court can walk a little.”

“I don’t know…”

“We don’t have a lot of time to weigh the pros and cons.”

“All right. I know you’ll take good care of them. Call me. I want to know everything.”

“Will do.”

Courtney crawled into the back seat of the helicopter and Alex picked up Jacob and placed him next to her. When they were both seat belted in, he took his place next to Charlie.

“Be safe,” Pure said.

“You, too,” Brad said.

Purity moved to an area behind the safe zone and watched the blades as they began to turn. Charlie was checking gauges and flipping switches. Pure thought it seemed like he knew what he was doing. They had little choice at the moment, they had to trust Charlie. At least he was someone they knew. It didn’t seem like anyone at the ranch was trustworthy, they all had secrets just below the surface.

Once the aircraft was on its way, Purity got in the golf cart and headed toward the ranch hand quarters. Everyone should be there waiting for them. The knots in her stomach told her that when she reached her destination, it would be empty.

Her gut was right.

“Where would Alex go if he came here and no one was around?” she said aloud. The gazebo or the big, red barn were the only places she could think of. Maybe the fire pit. “Maybe I should just stay here. We could be running around in circles looking for each other.”

Purity decided to leave a note telling Alex, or whoever showed up, that she was heading to the orchard and then the big, red barn. She laid it on the dining room table, then headed out the door on foot.

Ten minutes later, Red entered the ranch hand quarters, read the note, then crumpled it up and threw it in the trash. “Mighty kind of you to leave me a note, little lady.”

When she passed the cow paddock, her cell phone rang. The display read Brad T.

“How are they?” she answered.

“We’re at the ER in Milton and they’re being treated now. I don’t really know anything yet, but we’re here and that’s good.”

“Call me in ten minutes, even if you don’t know anything.”

“I will. What’s going on there?”

“I have no idea. I can’t find Alex.”

“This is giving me a bad feeling.”

“Me, too.”

“I’ll call you. Be careful.”

“I will.”

They hung up their phones. It wasn’t like the ranch to feel so eerie, but with no other souls around, she felt like she was in an episode of The Twilight Zone. “What would you say, Rod Serling?”

Purity surveyed the area. What she needed was some place to hide where she could see everything. She put her ring tone on light only, then headed toward the covered area of the cow paddock.

Hay bales were stacked against one wall, but there was about a twelve-inch opening near the roof. If she could climb up and lay as flat as possible, she might be able to see out without getting noticed.

Climbing was more difficult than she thought and the hay was making her sneeze. When she was about four bales high, she looked down. “Mistake. Don’t look down. It’s all in your head. Just keep climbing.”

The hay bales became less balanced the higher she climbed. Several straps were hanging to the right. She used them to help her balance. She finally reached the top and pulled herself up and over the bales until she was in a sitting position.

She looked out to see the orchard and gazebo to her right, the cow paddock to her left, the chicken coop to her far left and the road to the main house and ranch hand quarters straight ahead. No one would get past without her knowledge.

Purity pulled her shirt up over her nose to help eliminate the sneezing and cover her face. The last thing she needed was someone realizing where she was hiding. She put her cell phone on her lap so she’d be able to see the flashing light when Brad called.

When fifteen minutes had elapsed and she hadn’t seen anyone, nor received a phone call, her worries deepened. She texted Alex, then Meg and Bobby. No one replied.

She was about to text Brad when she heard a rustling sound coming from the orchard. She scanned the area, but didn’t see anything.

There it was again. But this time it wasn’t so much rustling as a banging, like a screen door on a porch. There were no screen doors in the orchard. It didn’t make sense. What kind of door would you put in an orchard?

A cellar door. Maybe they stored bins of apples down there. It would be cool. Do they have twisters around here? She had no idea. How big was a cellar? Probably as big as you wanted to make it.

“I don’t care what you say, I’m not doin’ it,” String said.

“Don’t know why you’re gettin’ a conscience now,” Red said.

“I don’t hurt kids, women or animals. Period.”

“You’d be puttin’ the dog out of his misery. He’s hurtin’. You’d be doin’ him a favor.”

“I ain’t no dog killer. You want to put a bullet in his head, then you do it.” String quickly turned and walked toward the main house.

“Don’t you walk away from me.”

“And don’t you threaten me.” String never halted his pace.

“If you want a job done right, you gotta do it yourself.” Red headed back toward the orchard.

Purity watched him closely. Past the gazebo on the left about twenty paces, he disappeared from her view. She heard the squeal of a door hinge followed by the bang of a door closing. “It is a cellar door. Ten will you give you twenty that he’s got everyone tucked away down there. How do I get ‘em out?”