A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait, but I had this chapter done for awhile, but I've been trying to write my other stories so I could post them all at the same time. I'm trying to work at a steady pace so that you can enjoy these chapters more regularly. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Ten

Written By: TheEquestrianWriter

Jake sat on the fence of the round pen at River Bend Ranch. The dapple-gray mare stood in the middle of the corral, watching him curiously. But Jake was barely focused on the mare, his thoughts were on Sam and the fact that she's been missing for two days. Jake couldn't help but think of the last time he saw Sam. That maybe if he had just stayed a few minutes longer, Sam would still be here.

Everybody had just assumed Sam had gone out for a ride. It wasn't until Wyatt and the other cowboys came back that they noticed all the horses were accounted for, but Sam wasn't. It was that night Jake was stuck in, reliving it every minute Sam was still missing.

"C'mon Jake, I want to go in and eat!" Quinn said as Jake walked into the barn with two full water buckets. "You're moving slower than usual tonight." Quinn tossed two flakes of hay in Chocolate Chip's stall as Jake delivered the two buckets.

"Well, if I'm not going fast enough for you, just go on inside and I'll finish up," Jake told his brother, grabbing two more flakes of hay and tossing them to Witch.

"Really? You sure?" Quinn asked.

"Yes, go," Jake said again. Quinn didn't need anymore encouragement, he ran out of the barn to fill his empty stomach. Jake shook his head as he stroked Witch's mane as the mare chewed her hay. Less than a minute later, Quinn was back but with the rest of his brothers in tow.

"Forget something?" Jake asked, coming out of Witch's stall and locking it behind him.

"We have to get the horses saddled up," Nate answered him, striding past to get his own horse. "Sam's missing, we have to go look for her."

Jake froze. No, Sam couldn't be missing. He had just seen Sam, talked to her only a few hours ago. "What do you mean Sam's missing?" Jake questioned.

"None of the River Bend horses are missing," Adam started as he saddled his horse. "So, the police are saying she either ran away on foot or someone abducted her."

"They want anybody they can get on the range looking for her before they rule it an abduction." Bryan added. His horse was all tacked and ready to go. Jake snapped into action; hurrying to the tack room to get his saddle, but his father stopped him.

"Not you, Jake. The police want you at River Bend to answer a few questions, seeing as you were the last one to see Sam." Luke told his son. Jake turned and stared at his father as if he'd just spoken french. "You're mother's waiting in the car." Luke nodded outside. With a push from Quinn, Jake shuffled his feet forward and started walking to the car, where his mother sat in the drivers' seat waiting. He didn't want to talk to the police, he would rather be out looking for Sam.

Just thinking of the police interrogation session make Jake angry all over again. They kept asking him questions like: Did he know where Sam could have gone, and did she have any reason to runaway? Plus, they kept accusing him of covering something up. The police were treating this as a runaway case, instead of what it really was. A kidnapping, and Jake knew exactly who was responsible. Caleb Sawyer. It had to be. First, he took Cody and now he's taken Sam.

Sterling snorted, breaking Jake out of his thoughts. The mare was nibbling on some hay a few feet away from him. Normally, Jake would have been happy at this kind of progress from the mare, except there was no one here to share it with. Sam wouldn't have been able to contain her excitement. He almost missed her constant babbling in his ear.

Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out the bracelet that was inside. Sam's silver horsehair bracelet. The hairs were from her old horse, Blackie, now known as the Phantom. Sam never took this bracelet off, it was one of her many connections to the wild, majestic stallion. Jake closed his fist around the bracelet and closed his eyes, remembering exactly what happened that night.

It was dark, late, and everybody had gone home, except for Jake. Jake was still at River Bend, trying to find any clues that may have been left behind. So far, he'd found nothing. He was about to go follow the track of a shod horse behind the barn, leading away from the ranch, but he decided to take one more sweep of the barn.

His boots barely made a sound on the concrete floor as he stepped into the barn. Tempest moved quietly in the barn corral and pigeons rustled around in the rafters, but everything else was quiet. Walking slowly and carefully, Jake searched the ground, even the stalls for anything that may have been dropped or left behind. That was when he saw it. The moonlight glinted off of something that was partially hidden under the tack room door.

Jake hurried over and snatched it up. It was a little dusty, but there was no denying what it was. Sam's silver horsehair bracelet. It must have fallen off her wrist when Caleb grabbed her. Jake smiled at the thought of the fight Sam must have given her kidnapper. But then his smile vanished when he remembered Sam hadn't gotten away, Caleb must have done something to her. Jake ran his finger over the silky hairs braided together and thought about how passionate Sam was when it came to the phantom. She would put her life in danger for that horse and she had on many occasions. Jake wished Sam would look at him the same way she looked at the phantom.

Suddenly, the hair on the back of Jake's neck stood on end. He wasn't alone. He turned around slowly, checking every shadow and crevice a person could fit. There was nobody. Jake left the barn and checked the surrounding ranch yard. He didn't find anybody, but he did hear hoofbeats pacing up by the river. The horses in the ten-acre pasture had clustered close to the fence, staring in the river's direction. Sterling and Tempest whinnied from their enclosures, both sensing the new presence.

Curious, Jake started walking to the La Charla river. The closer he got to the river, the more frantic the hoofbeats became. There was a snort and a whinny and then it came into view. At first, Jake thought he was a ghost; the way he moved was so graceful and fluid and the moonlight turned his coat silver, the light bounced off of him giving him some kind of a halo. Jake stopped short, taking in the majestic stallion.

The phantom froze as well once he spotted Jake, his nostrils flaring and his ears pricked forward. Jake inched forward one step at a time, his eyes downcast telling the stallion he posed no threat. He'd gotten the edge of the unusually calm, still river when the phantom exploded. The stallion whinnied and reared up, striking the night sky with his hooves. When he landed, he wheeled around about to gallop off into the night.

"She's not here," Jake found himself saying. The phantom stopped at the sound of his voice and craned his neck around to look at him. "Someone's taken her." Jake thought for a brief moment that he had gone insane, but here he was talking to a wild horse as if he could understand him.

But maybe he could understand because the phantom turned around and started walking back to the river. The stallion hesitated at first, sniffing the water cautiously, then he splashed into the river. The phantom stopped when he reached the middle, he stared at Jake and then pawed the river three times, bobbing his head. Jake was shocked; the mustang was actually inviting him into the water. Going against his instincts, Jake put one boot in the water, then the other. The water was surprisingly warm as Jake walked farther into the river. He stopped when he was about two feet away from the mustang. The phantom snorted, standing still as the water rippled around them. The stallion was close enough to touch, but Jake didn't dare lift a hand.

"I love her," Jake's voice sounded loud in the still, silent night. The silver stallion dipped his head low, his forelock falling into his dark brown eyes. "I will bring her back to us."

That night seemed like a dream, but Jake knew it had happened. If anybody asked him about it, he'd deny it, but it felt like he and the phantom had forged a mutual respect for the other. Jake looked up to see that Sterling had moved farther down the fence, but not out of fear. The mare stood facing him as she dozed off, her left hind leg rested slightly off the ground and her ears flicked slowly back and forth. Sterling lifted her head slightly as she felt him staring at her, but then Sterling snapped her head around and stared toward the driveway.

Jake half-turned and saw the sheriff's car parking by the ranch house. Sheriff Ballard stepped out of the car, tipped his hat at Jake and walked to the house. Jake waited a moment after the sheriff went inside, his heart suddenly pounding in his chest. The police haven't been to the ranch since Sam disappeared. They must have found something.

Taking a deep breath, Jake slid off the fence and started walking to the house. He mentally prepared himself for whatever the police had to say. When he opened the front door, Jake heard voices talking in the kitchen. They stopped when Jake came in, Wyatt, Brynna, Grace, and Louise sat around the table. Jen and her mother, Lila Kenworthy, also were sitting down, Jake didn't even know they were here. Sheriff Ballard stood in front of the table.

"What's going on?" Jake asked, breaking the silence.

"Heck was just telling us about a possible lead they may have found," Wyatt explained. Jake looked at the sheriff hopefully.

"It's nothing big," Sheriff Ballard started to say. "We got an anonymous call about a baby crying from inside an abandoned building in Dalton."

"That has to be Cody," Brynna said tucking her hair behind her ears. Her red hair hung loose instead of in her traditional braid. "What other explanation can there be?"

"I've sent two officers down to check it out," Heck replied. "We won't know anything until then."

"So, we're just supposed to sit on our hands and wait?" Jake questioned, unable to keep quiet any longer.

"I'm afraid that's all we can do at this moment," Heck told them.

After a few minutes, Heck's radio started crackling and a voice could be heard. The sheriff answered it and turned away from everyone as he spoke to the other officer. Jake strained to hear what was being said, but he could only catch a few words here and there.

Finally, Heck turned back around. "They didn't find anybody in the building, but they found evidence that there were people staying inside. A crib in one of the rooms and a strand of hair found on a bed." Brynna covered her face with her hands. Jake started for the door, but Wyatt was out of his chair and grabbed Jake's shoulder before he reached the door.

"Hold up, Jake," Wyatt looked at Sheriff Ballard. "What now?"

"We put out an amber alert on Caleb and the kids," Sheriff Ballard answered.

"That's it?" Jake questioned. "You're not going to do anything else?"

"We can search the building for more evidence, but there's not much we can go on," Sheriff Ballard explained. "If they leave the state, we'll know about it."

"But until then you're absolutely useless," Jake retorted. He turned his back on everybody and put his hand on the door.

"They're doing the best they can," Jake heard Louise say.

"Well, no offense sheriff, but your best sucks," With that, Jake let himself out and stalked down the porch steps. He stopped where Witch was tethered, contemplating getting on his horse and finding Sam himself. The idea was sounding more and more good the more he thought about it. He half-turned when he heard the front door of the house open and then close quietly.

Jake sighed when he saw that it was Jen. She was wearing jeans and a bright pink tee. "I'm not in the mood to talk right now, so if you don't mind." Jake told her as he started tightening the cinch on Witch's saddle.

"I know you're worried about Sam, we all are." Jen said not taking the hint. "The police are doing everything they can to find Sam and Cody."

"You know, I'm really getting tired of everyone telling me that," Jake replied, brushing past her and untying Witch from the hitching post.

"What? You actually think you could do a better job," Jen scoffed. She stopped however, when Jake stayed silent and mounted his mare instead. "You can't be serious?! It's only been two days, let the police-"

"Exactly, it's been two days!" Jake interrupted her. "And all they have is a crib and a strand of hair." He turned Witch around in the direction of the bridge. Jen hurriedly moved in front the black mare, who pinned her ears back at her.

"Jake, think for a minute," Jen said trying to talk some sense into him. "What are you going to do? Where are you going to start?"

"I am thinking," Jake told her calmly. "I'm thinking that Sam is in danger and needs my help. I'm going to find her." Jake kicked Witch into a trot and then a canter, his shoulders set in determination. Nothing was going to stop him from bringing Sam home, back to him.

A/N: Well, how was it? Did you like it? I'm hoping it won't be too long to get the next chapter up, but don't worry I'm not giving up on this story. Also look for my other stories to be updated on my actual account in the next few days. Please review!