Desperate Rescue (5 page)

T
he noise was deafening. Vibrations from the blast ripped through her body. She tried to rise, but Eli pinned her firmly to the ground.

“No,” he whispered in her ear. “Not yet.”

The acrid odor of burning chemicals stung her nose. She blinked, but it hurt even to keep her eyes closed. Heat roared up her, a whooshing, searing wave blocked only by Eli’s big frame. He shoved her arms under her body to protect them. His short hair bristled against her ear as burning debris rained down on them.

Then, abruptly, everything stopped. Eli lifted his head and she could feel him above her, scanning the woods. “Ready?” he asked.

She opened her eyes. “For what?”

“To run.” He paused, then leapt to his feet, dragging her up with him. “Run! Straight that way! And don’t stop!”

He pointed and pushed at the same time and Kaylee obeyed immediately, despite the question of why ringing in her head. It was answered immediately. Another series of explosions rocked the woods around them. They both jumped, but continued to run, snapping branches, galloping over fallen logs and moss-covered rocks. Fear pumped energy into her legs and she used it to push deeper into the woods, away from the compound.

Another blast tore up something big behind them and, yet, it sounded farther away. Because she was running? Or had this blast been at the other side of the house? The car, maybe?

She didn’t stop to see. She kept slashing her way wildly through the thick, untouched forest, widening the distance between her and Eli. Her heart pounded in her throat, beats so rapid they drummed a steady blur against her tight windpipe.

Finally, she stumbled to a halt, panting as her burst of energy suddenly waned. Turning with her hands on her knees and lungs on fire, she scanned the way she’d come for Eli.

Where was he?

Had one of the blasts got him?

The branches she’d slashed through parted. Eli, well camouflaged in his clothes, stepped into sight.

She sighed. When he reached her, she managed to croak out, “What was all that? Bombs?”

Panting himself, he nodded.

“Where did you go? You were right behind me.”

He offered her a short smile. “I didn’t expect you to be Olympic sprinting material. I stopped once to see if the explosions were moving in a circular pattern, which they were, ending at the house. When I turned back, you’d already passed the border.”

She glanced around. “We’re in Canada?”

“Yes. Don’t you remember passing a clear-cut line? There was a stone marker, too.”

She blinked. Her beating heart and panting breath choked off her answer. All she could manage was a shake of her head.

“Let’s go.”

She looked up at Eli. “Where?”

“Back to the car, if it’s still in one piece. I have a cell phone there. We should call the police and the border patrol, if they don’t already know what’s happened. We’ll have to give the area a wide berth. There could be more unexploded devices still there.”

“Still some left? The whole compound must have exploded! There won’t be anything left!”

“We still need to call the police.”

Refusing to move, she threw up her arms. “Why? Give me one good reason why
I
should talk to the police. They did nothing to help me when Trisha died. I told them she was murdered, but they said there was no evidence. They weren’t interested in helping me and I was too beaten down to try to convince them. I’m not going to bother talking with them now.”

She stalked away from him, smacking back branches still clothed with the yellow leaves of autumn, all the while feeling Eli’s eyes on her back.

“They’ll believe you now.”

She stopped. Eli held his breath.
Turn around, Kaylee. Stop fighting the life God has given you.

In the distance, cutting through the autumn stillness, a siren wailed.

Still, Kaylee refused to turn. Strangely, her actions hurt him.

But why? Because she refused to do what he knew was right? Because she wasn’t a Christian?

Slowly, she turned around and Eli found himself exhaling in relief. She took several hesitant steps toward him before she spoke.

“I hope they believe me. And the only reason I’ll talk to them now would be because it’s justice for Trisha. And to show them I’m not that petulant woman who Noah supposedly spurned.” She straightened her shoulders and nodded.

Yes, she wanted justice for her sister and rightly so. But she also wanted to prove to the police that they were wrong about her.

He was only here to find Phoebe. At any cost, too. Something sharp dug into his heart. He inhaled. Was Phoebe right when she accused him of selfishness?

He swallowed, looking down at Kaylee’s dark hair and pale, exotic features. How she could be of English origin, he wondered suddenly. Her eyes were dark, mysterious and she looked very much the Biblical prophetess. Noah must have seen the advantage she could give him.

Eli shut his eyes. Was he doing the same thing here?

“All right. We’ll go back. But,” she told him quietly but firmly, “you may have to face the fact that Noah could have killed them all. If not here, then somewhere else.”

With gritted teeth, he said, “Don’t you think you’re just avoiding the issue here? I know you don’t want to confront Noah again, but that could be our only solution. You can’t run away from it.”

“I’m not running away! But a person doesn’t stick their hand out again after the dog has bitten it!”

“Not even if it could save someone else? Would you think this way if Trisha were still alive? If you think that these people are beyond help, why did you try to talk her into coming home in the first place?”

He hated his argumentative words as soon as they left his mouth. Arguing wasn’t going to help them. Or help Phoebe.

Phoebe. Could she really be dead? Would Noah kill her because he knew his brother would soon find them?

The sirens grew louder, their baleful whine cutting through the woods. Finally, one stopped. They had either reached the car or the compound.

Eli kept one ear listening for the other sirens to stop, too. And the other listening to Kaylee’s silence. She still hadn’t answered him. Only the thin line that was now her mouth showed him that she was as determined as he was.

Finally, she said, “I didn’t know they were beyond help when I first went there. But I know that now. I’m sorry if that’s not what you want to hear.”

He stepped closer, shaking his head, trying to sound reasonable, logical, while fighting the images Kaylee had suggested. “You could be right, but don’t leave. You’re miles from the nearest phone and I don’t think you’re the kind of person who would stroll up to a stranger’s house and ask for help. Once the authorities realize that you haven’t gone back through customs, they’ll find you and rehash everything again. Do you want that? You know they’ll wonder if it was you here today.”

The forest around them was slowly coming to life again with birds determined to spend the coming winter there. The breeze had dissipated the stench of the explosions and one by one the sirens died. For a moment, Eli felt tempted to forget all that had happened.

With a pained frown, Kaylee shut her eyes.

Hating that his words, as true as they were, could hurt so much, Eli turned her back toward the compound. It would be easy to follow their tracks through the woods, with bent branches and disturbed forest fall showing their wild flight. And it would be easy to just stand there a moment and hold her close. Until the police found them.

He said nothing as he led the way back, but his mind whirred. Noah had warned that he’d kill Trisha
and
Kaylee if she left. Were these explosions part of that threat?

“Stop.”

Eli looked up from where he’d been picking his way through the woods. A border-patrol officer stood about ten feet away, leveling his pistol at them. Sighing behind him, Kaylee stepped out to Eli’s right.

“Don’t come any closer,” the officer warned. “This area is booby-trapped.”

“We know,” she said, her voice tired.

The man frowned. “May I ask what you two are doing here? You realize you’ve crossed the border illegally.”

Eli nodded. “We’re the ones who tripped those explosives. I told Kaylee to run so we wouldn’t get blown to pieces.”

After holstering his weapon, the officer keyed the mike on his radio and spoke into it, quietly. A garbled voice answered him. Finally, he said to them, “What were you doing here?”

Kaylee spoke. “I’m Kaylee Campbell. My sister was part of the cult that lived here until she died three weeks ago. Trisha Campbell? You must have heard of her. She was found in a motel in Houlton, dead.” She threw a nervous glance at Eli. “We came back to find his sister.”

The officer looked at him. “And who are you?”

“Eli Nash.” He gave the man a grim look. “There’s a lot to tell you, so we’d better find the police. I don’t really want to repeat it any more often than necessary.”

Two hours later, Eli looked tiredly across the table at three men.

“Mr. Nash, why do you think your brother booby-trapped his own compound?” The state police officer asked the question, while both he and the border-patrol officer stared coolly at him. Another man, an explosives expert, Eli suspected, stood at the door. Kaylee sat perched on the seat beside Eli, and he felt a protective urge growing. To protect her from these men? Or the horrors they could reveal and rehash?

They were all packed in a small room in the Houlton Police Station. While the authorities might act cool, Eli knew they were nervous. They had a death that may need another investigation. And a series of explosions to deal with. Lots of dangerous, unanswered questions, and probably the media hovering outside the building, pressing for their own answers.

He leaned forward. “Let me ask a question, first. How long ago do you believe those bombs were set?”

“How long do
you
think they’d been there?” the state police officer countered.

“I noticed some broken branches and crushed grass around them, all fresh. I’d say a day or two.”

The police officer nodded. “It looks like they were set within the last few days. Now, answer my question. Why would your brother blow up his own compound?”

“He knew I was looking for Phoebe. He must have known I was getting close, probably because Kaylee’s story made it to CNN.”

“But he could have just abandoned it without mining it,” the explosives expert said. “Why scuttle it?” This man was a soldier trained in explosives disposal, meaning the police felt this was enough of a threat to call in the military.

Eli glanced at Kaylee. She looked as if she needed to search for the right words. “We can’t explain Noah’s reasoning,” she began. “All I can tell you is that he’s crazy, plain and simple.” She glared at the man.

“We just want the facts,” the man answered quietly, “and any information you can provide, Miss. That includes what kind of person we’re dealing with.”

She bristled and, in Eli’s opinion, rightly so. “You’ve already met Noah, but at that time, he’d played a rational, pious man for you. And duped all of you. While I looked like a woman on the verge of a meltdown.” Immediately, she stopped. Eli held his breath as she threw a cautious look at him.

He focused on the police officer. “Noah threatened Kaylee’s life and he knew that her exposure on CNN would bring me here. He likes to toy with people, as a cat plays with a mouse before killing it. I’m his brother. I know what he’s like.”

“How long has it been since you last saw him?”

“Seven years.”

“And you don’t think he’s changed in that time?”

“No.” He folded his arms.

The police officer rubbed his jaw, obviously mentally sorting out the details. “Then why would your sister choose to stay with him?”

Eli’s head was starting to pound. “He’s persuasive.”

“And he killed my sister!” Kaylee interjected.

“There was no proof of foul play, Miss Campbell. I’m sorry.”

“Because Noah Nash is a cunning, intelligent man.” She glared at the officer. “And he probably hoped Eli would be blown up with the explosions. When he says he’ll do something, he thinks it through very carefully. He warned me he’d kill Trisha and he did!”

“Were you in love with him?”

“No!” Exasperated, she threw up her hands. “How can I convince you people that I hated him? He kept me locked up for two years! Those followers of his all lied about me because he told them to. And you believe them instead of me!”

“So why are you now trying to free one of those followers if they’re so dangerous to you? If they held you captive, wouldn’t you
not
want to go back and risk being kidnapped again?”

Kaylee fell silent. Eli watched her swallow, knowing the police officer had backed her into a corner. A tear slipped down her cheek.

Before he could speak in her defense, she said, “Besides the fact that they’re victims themselves, I decided to help Eli because I didn’t want him to go through what I did when I lost Trisha. But believe me. It wasn’t an easy decision.”

The officer’s expression softened slightly. “But if you knew Noah was so dangerous, why risk confronting him again?”

Kaylee cast her gaze downward. Cold dread washed over Eli. Yes, Noah hadn’t just threatened to kill Trisha, should Kaylee escape. He’d threatened her, too. She’d risked so much returning there. Her life and, as she’d admitted to him, her beliefs and, yes, her personal freedom.

All because Eli had convinced her. And maybe she was, like him, relying also on God for help.

Eli wanted to drag Kaylee out of there, right that minute. Take her someplace safe. He snapped his head toward the officer. “Do you know where Noah is now? He’s taken them back to northern Florida, hasn’t he?”

The officer grilled him with a hard stare that matched Eli’s tone. “Why do you say that?”

“Educated guess.” He leaned forward. “All I want is to talk to my sister. Cut me some slack here, please.”

The men looked at each other.