Back Story 11

Four days had passed since Josie had been kidnapped. Bill had notified every single Mountie and Sherriff around the country that Josie had been kidnapped and asking if they'd seen her, but every inquiry had turned up blank.

Bill ran his fingers through his hair as he sat at his desk in the office. Every replying telegram said almost the same thing. We're truly sorry, but we haven't seen a girl fitting this description. They had read. Surely a girl couldn't just go missing without a trace, but she had.

His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened, and Frank walked in. "Any luck?" Bill asked hopeful that the posse Jay and Frank had lead might have found the girl.

Frank shook his head as he sighed. "Sorry, Bill. Not a trace. The dogs tried their best, but the frost we had made the scent disappear." He sighed again as he sat down. "Have you got any better news from your contacts?"

"Nope. And having no news isn't good news either. I'm going to contact every newspaper in this country and get them to publish her description. Hopefully we might get something back from that."

"What if they've taken her across the border?"

"I've already notified every Sherriff and Marshal I know of over there. I've contacted Montana too, but still no ones seen her." Bill sighed, knowing he had to admit it. "I'm running out of options."

"Have you ever heard of a case before like this? A child just goes missing?"

"Actually, I worked on one." Bill poured himself and Frank a cup of coffee before continuing, remembering the case he'd been on. It hadn't ended well. "There was a young girl, almost the same age, and much like Josie. Her father wouldn't sell his land to another man, so the man took his daughter. The Mounties called me in when they couldn't find her, and I was on the case for two years. When I found the girl, I was too late. They'd killed her. I can only imagine what she went through, she would have been utterly terrified." His thoughts went back to Josie. "Much like I expect Josie would be feeling right now. I might not be the church going type person, Pastor, but I can say with all honesty, I've never prayed for someone like I've been for Josie these last few days."

"I think everyone can say that right now." Frank took a sip of the coffee. "That girl is a part of this town, and she's in everyone's hearts. One thing is for sure, nothing is going to stop her from trying to get back here, well, except for the people who took her." He put the cup back down. "What about Colin, is there any news on him? He must have saw who had taken her."

"I spoke with Carson this morning. He still doesn't know if Colin will pull through, but he could be our only hope in finding her. I'm more worried about what its going to do to Abigail. She's already lost one child, how will she be if we find Josie dead, or worse, never find her?"

The next few days were a blur of pain, torture, fear and terror for Josie. After the whipping and beating she'd experienced at the hands of McCallister, she was terrified. She began to withdraw from her surroundings, relying more and more on the good memories of times with her family and friends in Hope Valley to help her get through it. She knew she would try and escape again, even if it meant that she died in the attempt, but she also knew she was too weak to try. McCallister wasn't going to help her get her strength back either. He only fed her bread and water, and he wasn't at all worried about the gashes he'd torn in Josie's back when he'd whipped her. He didn't care less if the girl died from infection, or by his hand, all he wanted was to hurt Abigail as much as he possibly could.

Josie picked up bits and pieces of information as she was taken across the country by McCallister. She figured out by what he'd said to his men, that they were on their way to Denver, in Colorado. When she'd heard that, she was almost excited for a moment, as she knew Montana was near there, but it died away quickly as she realised she had no way of getting word to her sister.

She was daydreaming about being back in Hope Valley, with none of this nightmare ever taking place when the train began to slow down for its next stop. She heard the conductor call out. "Next stop, Denver. Passengers to get off at this station are required to make there way to the doors now. I repeat…." His voice trailed off and Josie groaned as she felt another wound open back up as she went to stand up.

McCallister stood up and picked up the coat he'd brought for Josie to wear to hide her wounds. "Well, here's our stop. Your now over a thousand miles away from Hope Valley, so don't get your hopes up of being rescued. And tomorrow you'll be traveling to San Francisco to get on a ship to England. Your precious Abigail will never see you again." He shoved the coat towards her. "Put this on, now."

Josie's eyes snapped in defiance. "No."

"You'll do as I say." McCallister grabbed her arm and shoved her into the wall. "Now, will you put it on?"

Josie decided to oblige and put on the coat, over the new dress he'd made her wear because the other had blood stains and rips in it. "One way or the other, they'll still come looking for me." She growled as she grabbed the bag that held her other clothes.

"Even if they do." McCallister opened the door and made her go through it. "They'll never find you when you're in England, married and with a different name. Good day to you, mam." He tipped his hat at a pretty lady who walked past them.

"So, that's your plan with me?" Josie rolled her eyes as he helped her down off the train, to show the crowd that there was nothing unusual here.

"You'll see, eventually." He waited on the platform for the other four men to join them, then they walked out of the station. "Ah, there's the coach." He motioned to a pristine, gleaming red buggy. "Here, I'll help you in." He said to Josie loud enough for a passer-by to hear.

Josie sat down in the carriage, rolling her eyes, hating every moment of being in this man's power. "How nice of you to help me." She scowled. "Maybe you could have helped me by not giving me a convict's share of a whipping."

"I warned you about trying to run away. You're going to make me a pretty penny. Home, Stafford." He commanded his driver.

"Pretty penny?" Josie asked as the coach rolled out of the town. She really didn't like the sound of it, and marriage? Then she figured out what he was planning. He was selling her to be a man's bride.

"Oh, you'll see. It's the high stepping filly's that make the best mares, hey?" He brushed her fringe out of her eyes to look at her face. "You've got very smooth skin.

Without warning Josie quickly turned and bit his hand as hard as she possible could, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth. "I'd appreciate you keeping your comments to your-self. I'm not anyone's ornament."

McCallister cradled his bleeding hand. "If we weren't in a public place, I'd whip the life out of you."

"No doubt you would, but then I wouldn't be able to make you a "Pretty Penny"

"She's got you there, McCallister." Stafford commented.

"Your job is to drive, not commentate, Stafford. Shut up and do your job." McCallister snapped. "Oh, no, the man whose buying you like a girl with spirit. He'll enjoy the challenge of getting you to submit to him."

"Hmph." Josie sneezed as some dust tickled her nose. Great, I get his meaning. More whipping and beating. She thought. Well, looks like I need to take the first chance I have to get away.

As McCallister's estate came into view, Josie realized that making a getaway might be harder then she first had thought. The house was guarded with dogs, and it had a huge brick wall running all around the property.

"Isn't it grand?" McCallister gloated as they drove through the gates.

"I've seen grander manure heaps." Josie snarled as they came to a stop in front of the house, still making mental notes of her escape routes.

"I see being kidnapped and tortured hasn't affected your humour or sarcasm!" He replied as he glared at her.

"Never..." She replied as a small smirk crept across her face. "Sorry, sarcasm falls out of my mouth like stupidity falls out of yours." She saw the anger creeping into his eyes, then she turned away and looked at the house as he got out of the coach and basically dragged her into it. As they went past the library, Josie saw the "Send" letter box and had an idea. "Since your going to be locking me up, can I get a couple of books?"

"No objection here, but I'll be standing at the door if you get any ideas."

"I'm sure you would." Josie commented as she went over to the huge bookshelves. As she pretended to look at the books, she watched McCallister and waited for her chance. At the last hotel they'd stayed at, she'd stolen an envelope, pencil, paper, and had written a small note to Abigail, telling her she was alive, and where she was. She saw him distracted for a moment and slipped it into to the pile of letters in the box, then she quickly tied her hair ribbon around the vase on the table, hoping that if someone came looking for her later, they'd recognize it. Not wanting to push her luck, she picked up a couple of books and went back to the door.

"Right, up here." McCallister pointed to a door at the top of the stairs. "You'll be in there till tomorrow."

Jose gave a quick glance around, looking for anything she could slip into her sleave to use as a weapon, but all she saw was a servant girl with a tray.

"Come on." McCallister grabbed her roughly by the arms, pushed her up to the top of the stairs and threw her into the room. "I hope your short stay is pleasant." He chuckled ghastly as he locked the door, then went back down the stairs.

Josie sighed as she stood up from where McCallister had knocked her to the ground, her wounds opening again from the movement. She looked around the room. It was empty of everything, except for a bed, table and chair and a few minor nick-nacks. "Splendid." She scoffed as she sat down, still trying to think of an escape, then she saw the window. "Hmmm." She walked over to it and looked out, realising she was being held in the attic. How was she going to get out?

Josie was startled to realise she'd fallen asleep in the chair, then she wondered what had awoken her. She could hear footsteps leaving and looked at the door, quite surpassed to see a note had been slipped underneath it. She went over and picked it up, unfolding it as she walked back over to her chair.

I don't know who you are, but I'm here to help you escape. I'm Amelia, the servant girl you saw with the tray. Under the mattress, there is a pencil and paper. I don't know much about what we'll need if we're planning to escape, so if your in on the plan, write me a list of what we'll need, and I'll try to help get them. McCallister has the only key to the door, so I can't unlock it, but you can unlock the window. Write me a reply, and when you hear three knocks on the door, that's me. Put the note under the door then.

After she had read it, she slipped it into the secret pocket inside her corset, then she found the paper and pencil under the mattress and wrote Amelia a reply.

Thank you so much for offering to help me get away from here. My name is Josie. I have a plan figured out, but it will require a bit of help from you if its going to work. We'll need a couple of good horses to ride, fully tacked and a couple of pack horses to carry supplies. We'll need what ever guns you can get your hands on, and plenty of ammunition for them. See if you can get some bedrolls, matches, food and extra clothing for both of us, and anything else you think might be handy. I have a plan to get myself out of this room, I think I can get out of the window, but it will be a bit of a drop to the ground, hopefully I can manage to find a way down. Try the best you can to get what we need, but whatever you do, don't let McCallister get a whiff of what we're planning. Good luck.

It was half an hour before Josie heard Amelia's signal, and after she had heard it, she slid the folded note under the door, then waited again for the reply. It didn't take long for Amelia to write it and slid it under the door and Josie picked it up and read it as she heard Amelia leave.

I'm in. If things go to plan, we'll be able to escape tonight. We don't have much of a choice though, if we don't, you'll be on the train tomorrow to San Francisco and the ship to England. Leave the rest of the planning to me, I can manage to get us out of here. Please do be warned though, if McCallister catches us, he'll hang us a horse thief's. The foreman here hung a boy only yesterday for attempted horse theft, so if we get caught, we'll probably meet his end aswell. We'll leave at midnight, everyone will be asleep then. I'll let you know I'm ready by throwing a pebble at the window. When you hear it, get out and come to the big oak tree you passed on your way in, then we'll run for it. Don't worry about the dogs, I'll have them handled. Good luck.

After Josie had read the note, she looked at the clock on the wall. It said that it was barely two in the afternoon. This was going to be an agonizingly long wait….