Born To Be Wild (16 page)

Renewed hope shot through him. “That’s the one I bought her, all right.”

Isabel crushed the hoodie to her chest. “But where is she?”

“Perez probably took her down to the cliff dwellings in Frijoles Canyon. The neighbor said that’s why she wanted to come here, remember, so she could climb into the
cavates
.” When Isabel’s face crumpled into a panicky expression, he added, “He’s planning on bringing her back to this campsite, Isabel. Look. He left the tent. And the cookware. They’re not going anywhere. We’ll find them. We will!”

Though for all he knew, Perez was planning to take Lucy backpacking in the Bandelier Wilderness. What if that was his intention? The Wilderness was a huge, challenging terrain of canyons and mesas. Fifty square miles. They could get lost in it, never to be found by anyone.

A spear of apprehension made Micah’s chest tighten. They couldn’t lose their child now, not when they were so close to getting her back. He and Isabel would have to catch up to Perez before he took their daughter away from busy tourist areas.

Because if the desperate man took off with Lucy into the Wilderness, Micah feared he might never see his little girl again.

…

Caleb snapped out of his stupor long enough to realize the vehicle holding him captive wasn’t moving. How long had he been in this damn sardine can? How many hours? Or was it days now? He didn’t know any more. He was getting weaker and, he feared, going a little out of his head.

He needed water.

Needed food.

Most of all, he needed to get out of the claustrophobic space before he went batty.

Annoyed, Caleb felt a prickly sensation, as if Hector kept pushing at him and now was angry with him for giving up.
Hell
, no. He would show the old bastard that he still had some fight left in him.

Somewhere in the last hours, he’d realized that the duct tape sealing his hands together could be torn. It was cloth, after all. He just had to snag it on something sharp. His arms were weak and his hands a little numb, but if he could just nick the edge of the duct tape somehow, he would be able to tear through it. Once his hands were unbound, he could easily remove the tape from his mouth and ankles. Then he would figure a way out to someplace where he could breathe normally again.

Not to mention alert the authorities.

He just had to free himself first.

He’d hit so many sharp edges rolling around every time the vehicle stopped and started, he was certain he could find one of them if he felt around. Testing by rolling himself a little back and forth, he felt something sharp poking him in the middle of his back. To get his hands near that edge, he moved his body upward. His head banged into the metal wheel well, stopping him cold.

Dang it! The least you could do is help me out here, Hector! I can’t see what I’m doing.

He waited a moment, and then, inspired as if Hector had actually implanted the idea in his mind, Caleb tucked his chin to his chest and curled his upper body forward to give himself more room. He tried moving again, inch by inch, testing every few tries, until, at last, he felt the sharp object pressing into his arm directly above the tape.

He lifted his elbows a bit to raise his arms, then sawed whatever it was against the edge of the duct tape. Anxious to be free, he pressed hard and felt the metal go through the tape with a jolt.

Out of breath, he stopped. And realized he was now stuck in place.
Damn!
For a moment he thought that was it. He would never get free. And then he got angry. He twisted and turned and slid his hands up and then down as far as he could go in every direction. His reward was a light tearing sound, like the tape was starting to split.
Hallelujah!
He jerked his wrists hard, and suddenly they were free of the metal. They didn’t feel as tightly bound, either. He knew then that he’d managed to rip the tape at least a little, and with a determined breath, found the metal object again and took care to match it with the split in the tape. He sawed and sawed, and to his relief, heard the tape rip.

At last, his hands were free.

Caleb slowly pulled his arms to the front of his body, joints and flesh painful as he shifted position. Grunting, he forced an arm upward and dug his fingers into the tape covering his mouth. He tore it from his face along with some skin, and yelped.

Then, from outside the vehicle, a familiar, if muffled, voice made him freeze.

“Yeah, I’m there now.”

A
click
sounded, and Caleb was certain Bobby had opened one of the vehicle’s doors. And then, from the noise up there, the bastard must be rummaging around looking for something.

“They’re after the brat,” the bastard said. “I’m just waiting for my chance.”

Who was after what brat? He must mean Lucy! Caleb pushed himself downward into a more accommodating position where he could stretch out his whole body. He reached for the tape binding his legs together. Considering the bastard had tried to collect a ransom on Lucy when he didn’t even have her, Caleb really worried about what Bobby was up to. He worked faster on the duct tape around his ankles.

“Hey. I see them,” Bobby said. “Gotta go.”

Them, who?

Even as he unwound the last of the tape, Caleb heard Bobby’s footsteps move away. He squirmed around trying to find a way to open the trunk when his shoulder ran into the area above him, and what he’d thought was the top of the trunk gave way.

What the hell?

He put his hands up and pushed and the panel above him moved. Light from both sides snicked into the dark cavity. Realizing he was pushing on a retractable cargo cover of an SUV, he found the catch, unhooked it, and let it rip back into its case. Stunned by the light for a moment, he couldn’t move.

Then he sensed Hector pushing at him again, urging him to get the hell out of there. He opened the back gate and slipped out of the vehicle. He had to stand there a moment and let the warm sun unfreeze his arthritic joints so he could move. Seeing several bottles of water thrown into the cavity, he grabbed one and drank it down fast. Then he grabbed another and stalked off to look for Bobby.

Where the hell had he gone so fast?

Looking around, Caleb got his bearings. He stood in a parking lot near a distinctive group of buildings that he instantly recognized. A national park visitor center.

Why the hell had Bobby taken him to Bandelier National Monument?

He swung around toward the trailhead to Frijoles Canyon. There! He was certain he spotted Bobby Soto just before he’d disappeared around a bend.

Finding his legs, Caleb hung onto the second bottle of water and hurried after the bastard who’d probably planned on killing him.

And was now after his great-grandchild.

No matter what Caleb had to do, Bobby Soto was not going to hurt anyone else.

Especially not Lucy.

He would stop the bastard any way he could.

…

Isabel and Micah approached the vertical expanse of volcanic tuff, home to an uneven jumble of ancient Indian cliff dwellings at the top of the slope. Above them soared cliffs, dotted with dozens of
cavates
and bisected by tall wooden ladders propped against the rock so the braver tourists could climb up to see inside. Some ladders were unbelievably tall, and all looked rickety and unstable. The thought of Lucy climbing up one of them made Isabel sick with dread.

She was equally filled with anticipation that made her stomach whirl, because any minute now, they should spot Lucy.

They’d discovered Jorge Perez’s SUV with the dangling pine tree air freshener in the visitor center parking lot. After carefully checking the buildings to make sure Perez and Lucy weren’t still hanging around looking at souvenirs or educational displays or watching the movie, she and Micah had set off up the trail after them.

“You okay?” Micah asked.

“Just nerves.”

“Me, too.”

She heard the truth of that in his gravelly voice. It hadn’t occurred to her that Micah could be nervous. He always seemed so sure of everything.

Except for her
.

The past had changed them both.

Now neither of them was sure of the other when it came to risking their hearts. But they had to trust each other in this. They would rescue their daughter as a team, not only because they had to, but because they wanted to. In Lucy, they were united.

At the base of the cliff, Isabel stopped Micah when she spotted a uniformed park ranger on horseback who was keeping an eye on the visitors. “Hold on a minute.” Moving to the mounted ranger, she said, “Excuse me. We’re looking for our daughter.” She pulled a small photo of Lucy from her pocket and held it up. “Have you seen her?”

“How long ago did she wander off?”

“She didn’t wander off,” Micah said. “She’s with her friend’s father. They just got ahead of us.”

A half truth, which was okay with Isabel. She, too, was wary of involving anyone with a badge, even a friendly looking ranger. Though she wouldn’t mind having the woman’s horse to speed them along.

The ranger lifted her sunglasses and gave the photo an intent look. “Hmm, she looks familiar. That hair.” She glanced at Isabel. “She takes after you.”

Isabel’s breath caught for a second. “So you did see her, right?”

“I’m pretty sure that was the same girl. Not long ago. They can’t have gotten very far.”

Thank God they were on the right trail
. The nightmare was almost over.

“C’mon,” Micah said. “Let’s skip ahead, see if we can catch up to them.”

Isabel took deep breaths to keep herself calm as she let Micah lead the way. Any moment now, they would see Lucy. She was certain of it.

A few minutes later, she was frustrated showing people the photo of Lucy. But the tourists they encountered had only been paying attention to the beautiful landscape, not to the people around them.

Until they got to a woman accompanied by a teenage son. The woman shrugged. “Sorry.”

But the son said, “Yeah, I saw her.”

“Where?” Micah asked. “Around here?”

“No, she and the man went that way.” He pointed several yards back to a smaller path that branched off from the main trail.

Isabel saw that it led through the trees and up to the cliffs, into a steep, rocky crevice, were the trail narrowed and started to zigzag upward.

“Oh, God,” Isabel whispered as Micah thanked the kid and they hurried off. “This is not good.”

She tried not to think about what could happen to her daughter up there. It wouldn’t take much to send her flying off that poor excuse for a path and hurtling down to her death.

Micah was walking so fast up the slope she could barely keep up, but she wasn’t about to ask him to slow down, not when her daughter could be in mortal danger.

“We’re going to find her,” he said, as though reading her thoughts.

Isabel’s eyes stung with threatening tears. She just prayed they would make it in time.

…

“Wow, this is so cool,” Lucy said, though she was starting to worry that Mr. Perez had brought her to an area away from the
cavates
.

The path had been rough and slippery and the sheer, high drop-off was enough to make her stomach churn. Not knowing if they were supposed to be back here, she clung to the tuff and glanced around at the land below that had nearly been destroyed by a major wildfire. Her stomach did a sick little curl. Blackened brush was dotted with new growth, brilliant color against the scarred black earth. They were way too high above it all on a ledge that was maybe two yards wide.

“What if we get separated?” she asked.

“I won’t let you out of my sight, Annie.”

“Just in case…you did promise to give me my cell phone.”

Mr. Perez looked confused for a moment. “You don’t have a cell phone, Annie.”

She tried not to panic. Her whole plan depended on getting her cell phone from him so she could call her parents. “Sure I do, Papa. You just forgot.” He really had. He’d promised! “Check your pockets.”

Not that she knew how she was going to get a chance to call anyone. Mr. Perez had practically been breathing down her neck since they’d arrived at the visitor center, packed with other people. Undoubtedly the reason he’d taken her away from the main trail after she’d climbed up into a couple of the lower cliff dwellings.

Still looking puzzled, he pulled a cell phone from each pocket. He returned his and held out hers. “How could I have forgotten getting this for you?”

Her heart pounding, Lucy took the phone from him before he could change his mind. “You’ve just had too much to think about lately. Besides, my friend Lucy is the one who gave it to me.”

“Your friend…?” He appeared even more confused.

Not knowing when she would get another chance to make a call, Lucy veered from her original plan, flipped open the cover of the cell phone and hit the key to put her through to her mother.

“What are you doing?” Mr. Perez asked.

“Just checking.” She put the phone to her ear. “I want to make sure I have a signal is all.”

“Put the cell phone away, Annie,” he ordered, his voice stern. “You have no need for it here.”

Lucy realized she’d better do as Mr. Perez said before she really upset him. He was getting even more demanding than before. No one answered, anyway. She’d thought Mom would have clung to her cell waiting for a call from her. Mentioning the cell phone in her note had been her way of giving Mom a clue. She slipped the phone into her pocket and hoped for another chance to use it soon.

Why couldn’t Mom have answered? Her eyes stung. Were Mom and Daddy even looking for her?

She didn’t want to pretend anymore. Didn’t want to be Annie.

She wanted to be Lucy. She wanted to go home.

And she had the horrible feeling that something really bad was going to happen…and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Chapter Sixteen

“Oh my God, Lucy called me!” Isabel gasped.

They’d just gone off-trail when she’d heard it ring. She hadn’t been quick enough to take the call, and seeing her daughter’s name and number on the screen made her sway with shock.

Directly behind her, Micah grasped her shoulders and steadied her…as he’d been doing all along. “Call her back.”

Isabel tried, but she got Lucy’s voice mail and had to leave yet another message. “This is Mom, Lucy. I’m so sorry I didn’t pick up fast enough to get you, sweetheart. Are you okay?” she asked, voice shaking. “Please let me know you’re okay! Call me as soon as you hear this.” Tears filled her eyes and her hand shook as she slipped the cell back into her pocket.

Micah enfolded her in his arms and gave her a reassuring hug. “Come on,” he murmured. “Maybe we can catch up with them before Lucy even has the chance to try again.”

Nodding, Isabel let Micah lead her up the steep trail to the cliff ledge.

With the forest fire devastation adding a surreal note to darken her mood even further, Isabel felt as if she were walking through a nightmare. Micah was her lone anchor to reality.

Just as he had been from the moment he’d known Lucy was missing.

He’d taken care of her, had pushed her when she’d needed pushing, had kept up her hope, had treated her with passion and also with respect.

Even so, she’d treated Micah badly. She’d wounded him when she hadn’t told him she still loved him earlier, even as she had wounded him when she’d left for Santa Fe without telling him twelve years before. She believed everything he’d told her—about his always loving her, about his going to Falcon Ranch that night because he’d decided to be the man she’d hoped for—but something kept her from offering him her heart.

What would it take to make her feel free to accept his love and return it freely?

As they snaked around a series of switchbacks in the cliff, suddenly Micah grabbed her.

“What?”

He put his finger to his lips and pointed ahead.

Her pulse surged with a combination of joy and fear when she recognized Lucy’s long-sleeved purple T-shirt, the one she’d been wearing when she’d been taken.

Stifling a cry, Isabel started to rush forward, but Micah stopped her and pointed frantically to what lay ahead.

She blinked and the whole picture came into focus.

Just ahead, this section of the cliff trail was broken into multiple fingers, and there was a gap in the ledge, dropping straight down for a hundred feet or more to a jumble of sharp rocks. Jorge Perez was holding Lucy’s hand, trying to guide her over the maw of the gap to the other side of the narrow ledge where he stood.

Isabel’s heart nearly stopped.

Lucy appeared nervous, as if she didn’t want to jump over it, and Isabel wanted to shout at her to run back this way. She might have, if Micah hadn’t gripped her arm hard. He shook his head at her in warning.

Ahead of them, Mr. Perez was smiling and urging Lucy on. Pressing her back against the wall of the cliff, Lucy edged her way to the gaping drop, but still hesitated.

There was a wild look in Perez’s eyes when he held out his hand and demanded, “Jump, Annie!”

Standing frozen in horror, wanting to go to her daughter, and knowing that moving could put Lucy in even more danger, Isabel couldn’t look away.

Lucy held out a shaking hand, and Perez took it and tugged until she jumped across. When she made it safely to the other side, Mr. Perez pulled her into his arms and hugged her, then patted her on the back.

“See, I knew you could do it.”

Eyes stinging with unshed tears, Isabel whispered, “Micah, he really thinks Lucy is his Annie. What are we going to do?”

“There.” He pointed to the break between tuff fingers, indicating that the ledge split into a Y and went in both directions. “I think there’s another way to get to them.”

…

Mr. Perez really had lost his mind from grief, Isabel thought, as Micah set off the back way to get to their child. She’d known it, but now she felt it on a deeper level. He’d used terrible judgment in bringing Lucy here. He never should have brought her up this remote, dangerous path. Never should have made her jump that hair-raising break.

To give Micah enough time to circle around in back of them, she called out to her daughter to focus Perez’s attention on her. “Lucy! Over here!”

Lucy whipped around, her tense expression crumpling in relief. “Mom! You came!”

But when she started to move back toward Isabel, Perez immediately became agitated and grabbed her arm, yelling, “You’re not my Annie’s mother!”

Lucy looked even more frightened, but in a shaky voice, she said, “I-it’s okay, Papa. Don’t be upset.”

Papa?
Isabel started.

Then she realized Lucy was playing into the man’s fantasy. Revulsed, she wanted nothing more than to jump the break in the ledge and grab her daughter away from him. But she had to try to reason with him, keep his attention on herself, giving Micah time to get behind him.

“I just want to talk to you, Mr. Perez,” she said, a forced smile frozen on her lips. “I hope you’ll give me that chance.”

He moved protectively in front of Lucy. “Who are you?”

“I’m Lucy’s mother.”

“Lucy? You mean the girl who gave my Annie the cell phone?”

Keeping her movements light and nonthreatening, Isabel sucked up her courage and leaped over the break. Perez stepped backward and jostled Lucy, who quickly pressed her back against the wall. Isabel swallowed a scream. She wanted to shove past Perez and pull her daughter into her arms, but she knew that would be a mistake. Instead, she stood fast, the break looming behind her—along with the hundred-foot drop.

She kept her cool.

“No, Mr. Perez. Lucy couldn’t give Annie a cell phone, not after the accident. You know that in your heart, don’t you? Let Lucy go, please. Let her come to me. I’m her mother and I love her so much.”

“This is
my
daughter.” His face pulled into a scary mask, and he reached back and grabbed onto Lucy’s arm. “My
Annie
. No one is going to take her away from me again!”

“Mr. Perez, please. Your Annie is already gone—”

“No, she’s right here!” the man thundered, just as Micah came at him from the other direction.

Micah lunged at him, but a frantic Perez pulled Lucy back the way they’d come.

Toward Isabel.
And the drop
.

Her face twisted in fear, Lucy looked ready to break down. “Papa, please stop!”

But “Papa” had morphed into a mentally broken man in a state of panic, determined to get away with the girl he believed to be his daughter. He grabbed her hand and plunged forward, away from Micah, back to the break in the ledge, knocking Isabel in the shoulder so hard when he passed her that she spun around and lost her precarious footing.

One foot slid out into space. She screamed and desperately tried to regain her balance. A chunk of soft tuff broke off from the ledge where she stood. Suddenly there was nothing under her feet.

She screamed and dropped fast. At the last possible second, she caught what little was left of the ledge with both hands. Her legs scrabbled as she fought for a foothold that didn’t exist.

Lucy was screaming, a high-pitched wail. “Mr. Perez, stop! You’ve got to help her! Help my mother, please!
You can’t let her die!
”

“Your mother is already dead,
mi ángel,
” he said wildly. “I can’t lose you, too!”

“
Mo-o-om!
” Lucy screamed.

Isabel swung from the ledge and felt her hands slipping. Dear Lord, she couldn’t look down. The drop would kill her.

Her fingers ached as she hung on for dear life, her weight whipping her body into the rock. She searched for a toehold—anything to stop her from plunging over the cliff—but there was no crack or crevice.
Nothing
. Some tuff under her left hand crumbled loose, and her arm flew free, making her body twist outward. She screamed. Hanging from one hand now, fingers digging in the soft rock as hard as she could, she panicked, grabbing at thin air.

Her arm racked with pain from her weight, she began to slip.

She couldn’t hold on one more second.
No!
Her stomach plummeted as her hand gave way.

Suddenly an iron manacle surrounded her wrist, jerking her to a stop.

Micah!

For a heart-paralyzing moment, she dangled in midair, her body twisting and turning in the wind. She could see exactly how far she could still fall. Her stomach twisted and turned, too.
Oh, God
. She wanted to heave.

Then Micah was pulling her up. Her body banged into the soft volcanic rock, which felt like sandpaper on her skin.

“Grab onto something if you can!”

He had her halfway up over the ledge. She flung her free arm up onto its surface, and then managed to lift a knee up over it, too. He pulled her the rest of the way up, and into his arms. He grabbed her close and cradled her.

“My God, Isabel, I thought I’d lost you.”

“I’m okay. But where’s Lucy? He got away with her!” she sobbed. “We pushed Perez over an edge, too, Micah. We have to get to them before anything else happens to panic him.”

He was already pulling her upright. “Are you sure you can walk?”

“Perez already lost his child. I don’t intend to lose ours!”

Still holding her hand, Micah jumped the break first, then waited for Isabel to follow. She made the dangerous move in one quick, sharp movement.

Micah scooped her to his side. “Let’s go get Lucy!”

…

Back at the foot of the cliff dwellings a few minutes later, Micah stopped to catch his breath and sweep his gaze around the area, searching through the crowd milling about.

There!

Lucy was in tears. Perez was trying wipe them away, attempting to soothe her as Lucy fought him.

“There they are!” Micah said, relief pouring through him as he took off running.

Perez started to drag a recalcitrant Lucy up the trail, against the flow of visitors, glancing back as if to be certain no one was chasing him.

With Isabel directly behind him, Micah put on speed, dodging a few irritated people, and they almost caught up to Perez before he spotted them.

“Stay back!” the man shouted at them, then forced Lucy up a ladder to one of the
cavates
. “Climb, Annie!”

Lucy glanced back once at Micah, her expression a plea for help, before doing as Perez ordered.

“This is not good,” Micah ground out, stopping at the base of the cliff.

Coming up short next to him, Isabel was panting from the run. “You keep everyone else away from the ladder and let me try to talk to him.”

Micah nodded. “Make it good.” Peering up at the high ladder, his stomach knotted at his daughter’s shaky ascent. He waved a woman and her kids away.

“Mr. Perez!” Isabel yelled at the kidnapper’s back. “Please listen to me!”

“Go away! You can’t take Annie from me! She’s mine!”

Lucy looked scared to death as she clung to the high ladder and looked down at them. Two teenagers tried to get past Micah, but he held out his arm and gave them a threatening look until they changed directions.

Isabel yelled, “I’m a parent, too…
Lucy’s
parent…and I don’t want to lose my child.”

“Her name is Annie. She’s
my
daughter!” Perez yelled back. He was now on the upper ledge outside the
cavate,
and he pulled Lucy close.

Micah could hear people gathering behind them. Not trying to get to the ruin, but to see what was going on. Even from down here, he could see Perez was losing it. His movements were jerky and desperate. He clung to a wriggling Lucy, glancing around almost as if he didn’t know where he was.

“I know what happened at that bus accident,” Isabel yelled up at him. “I was assigned to get photos for the
Santa Fe Courier
. I was horrified, Mr. Perez, as only a parent can be when they know their child is in mortal danger. I realized Lucy was inside and possibly injured. Or worse…hurt beyond saving, like your Annie.”

Watching Perez carefully, Micah saw the man’s expression slowly change. His confusion seemed to be clearing as Isabel kept talking, but each word was like a physical blow that hit him with increasing intensity. His face morphed from crazed to a mask of pure pain.

Isabel said, “I don’t know if I could have gone on if I had lost the most precious thing in my life—my daughter.”

To Micah’s amazement, Perez hesitated a few seconds, then reluctantly let go of Lucy. He came out of his madness long enough to say, “Lucy, your mother is waiting for you. Go to her. Be careful going back down the ladder.”

Micah took a shocked step forward when Lucy didn’t immediately rush to the ladder.

Looking heartbroken, Lucy said, “I’m sorry about Annie, Mr. Perez. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save her. I tried, I swear.” Then the dam broke and she sobbed out the rest. “I pressed as hard as I could, but I couldn’t stop the bleeding!”

Hearing his daughter’s torment nearly broke Micah’s heart. From Perez’s expression, it broke his, too. Micah saw the fight go out of him completely.

“I believe you, Lucy,” he choked out. “You’re a good, kind girl. I wish you were mine, but you’re not.” He gave her the bleakest smile Micah had ever seen. “I have to go find my Annie now.”

With that, Jorge Perez stepped off the cliff, greeting death with open arms.

The whole area went up with fear-filled shouts and screams.

Lucy screamed and screamed and screamed.

And then she went spookily silent.

Isabel scrambled straight up the ladder. At the top she pulled their daughter into her arms.

Micah looked down at Perez, who was lying facedown on a nearby rocky slope. He’d probably dropped thirty or forty feet, but Micah didn’t know if that was enough to kill him. Maybe if his neck wasn’t broken…

As he figured out how to negotiate the nearly vertical ten-foot drop off the lower ledge to get to the injured man, he yelled, “I’m going down to check on Perez. Call for help!”