Chapter 14

Joe opened his eyes. His head was throbbing painfully and it was black all around him.

Where am I? he thought groggily.

Struggling to sit up, a sharp, lancing pain tore through his right hand and Joe moaned.

What's going on? Where am I?

Cradling his hand against him, Joe stared in confusion at the trees around him. What was he doing in the woods?

Joe closed his eyes and tried to think. His head was swimming and he really wanted to go to sleep, but instinct was screaming at him to stay awake.

A jumble of images flashed through his mind.

Men in masks…Frank telling him to get help…his mother sick…SICK!

Joe opened his eyes as it all came rushing back to him. Help! He had to go for help!

Shakily, the little boy struggled to his feet, his left hand using a tree for leverage. His right hand was completely incapacitated with pain and felt strangely wet.

Joe wondered vaguely if the medicine his mother had put on it earlier had worn off.

Looking up, Joe could just make out the shadow of the incline that he had fallen down. He made a feeble attempt to climb back up, but slipped and fell again.

Hot tears began to fall down Joe's face. How on earth was he going to get back up there? What would happen to Frank and his mother if he didn't?

Joe's sobs caught in his throat. His mother and his brother were counting on him. Joe had to get back up there!

Gritting his teeth with determination and his face still wet with tears, Joe began to crawl slowly up the steep incline. His kept his right hand against his chest and used his left to grip tree roots, vines, grass…anything he could use to help pull himself up. Twenty minutes later, Joe heaved himself back onto the path and lay there panting.

I did it! he crowed triumphantly.

Joe gave himself a few minutes to catch his breath before setting off down the path again. He had no idea what time it was or how long he had been lying at the bottom of the incline, but he knew he needed to get help soon.

Tottering unsteadily, Joe forced himself to move faster. He could do this. He'd come this far, hadn't he?

But an hour later, exhaustion, pain and dizziness were finally starting to overwhelm him. Sheer stubborn determination was all that was keeping him moving. His mind had become so foggy that Joe was now unaware of where he was going, all he knew was that he had to keep following the path.

When the lights came towards him, Joe knew it was the kidnappers. He was too exhausted to care and as he stumbled to his knees, he was dimly aware of excited yelling.

They found me, he thought. I'm sorry, Frank. I couldn't do it, I couldn't get help.

The car screeched to a halt as Tom slammed on the brakes. "Is everyone okay?" he asked in a shaky voice.

"Yeah," mumbled Jack. "Think so."

"Me too," said Sam dazedly.

"What happened?" asked Fenton.

"Something just barrelled out of the woods onto the road in front of us," said Con as he opened his door. "I'm going to have a look."

Fenton also got out, just as the sheriff and Rawston pulled the patrol car to a stop a few feet behind them.

"What happened?" the sheriff yelled.

"Not sure," Fenton called back, as he and Con moved towards the small shape in the middle of the road. "We…"

Fenton stopped dead. Beside him, he heard Con's sharp intake of breath. His own breath was frozen in his throat. Fenton recognised the small figure kneeling in the road and swaying from side to side. But it couldn't be….

"Joe?" Fenton gasped.

The figure looked up.

"D-daddy?"

"Joe! Oh, God! Joe!" Fenton raced forward, dropped to his knees and pulled his son into his arms. Joe collapsed into his father sobbing.

"Shhh! It's alright, Joe. You're safe now, it's okay. No one's going to hurt you," said Fenton soothingly as he stroked his son's hair.

The other men stood behind him in flabbergasted amazement. Where in the world had the child come from?

After several minutes, Joe stopped crying and Fenton stood up, lifting Joe with him. The child's head flopped in exhaustion onto his father's shoulder. Fenton turned around to face the other men. Their stunned faces said it all.

The sheriff was the first to speak. "Fenton, I have a first aid kit and a canteen of water in the car."

Fenton nodded and carried Joe to the patrol car. Sitting Joe into the passenger seat, Fenton crouched down beside it. Taking the water canteen from the sheriff, he gave a little water to Joe. Fenton's eyes travelled over the muddy, torn clothes, the pale face and the swollen, bloody lump on his son's temple.

"Joe, what happened?" Fenton asked softly. "How did you get away?"

"Frank put me out a window," Joe mumbled.

"What?" said Fenton, startled.

"Frank put me out a window," Joe repeated, his eyes closing sleepily. God he was tired.

"Joe, what do you mean? Where's Frank and your mother?"

"Too big…to fit out window."

"Where are they, Joe?" Fenton tried to keep the urgency out of his voice.

"Still in the…basement," Joe whispered.

Basement.

Something clicked in Joe's mind and he sat bolt upright in the car.

"Mom! Frank! We have to save them!"

"Shhh! We will, Joe, we will," Fenton assured him. "But we need to get you to the hospital first…"

"NO!" Joe shouted, becoming agitated. "We have to save them before they know I'm gone!"

"Before who knows you're gone?" said Fenton sharply. "Joe, what do you mean? I thought you said Frank put you out a window?"

"Not Frank, the men," Joe explained. "They don't know I'm gone."

There were gasps of astonishment from the men.

"Joe," said Sam. "Are you telling us the kidnappers think you're still in the basement?"

Joe nodded.

"How, Joe? Tell us what happened." Fenton's voice was coaxing so as not to alarm the child.

Joe told his father as much as he could remember since the kidnappers had first arrived in the cabin, to his journey through the woods. When he was finished, Fenton turned to the others.

"Four of them," he said, "and seven of us. If we act before they know Joe's missing, maybe we can get Frank and Laura out of there safely."

"How?" asked Jack.

"We can surprise them," said Fenton. "But we need to get going. We've only got a little time to pull this off." Turning to Joe, he asked, "Joe, do you think you can show us the way back to the house?"

Joe nodded. "Are we going to get Frank and Mom back?"

"We sure are, Joe," Fenton assured him.

Suddenly, Rawston spoke up. "Umm, Mr. Hardy, I don't want to tell you what to do but shouldn't we get him to a hospital? It sounds like he hit his head pretty hard and look at his hand. He's hurt."

Fenton looked at Joe's hand and noticed the blood-soaked bandage for the first time. He hissed in anger. "Joe! What happened to your hand?"

Joe glanced down at his hand. "I fell and cut my hand," he explained. "I think there was glass on the ground."

"The glass bottle," Sam muttered to Fenton.

Fenton nodded. "Joe, let me see your hand."

"No," said Joe quickly. "Mom's already looked at it! We need to go get Mom and Frank now!"

"The sooner I see your hand, the sooner we can go get your mom and Frank," said Fenton firmly.

Sighing, Joe held out his hand. Fenton unwrapped the bandage and Joe winced as he did so. "That hurts, Dad," he said in a small voice.

"I know, I'm sorry, Joe," said Fenton as he examined the hand. The cut was long and deep, and bleeding heavily. Joe badly needed stitches.

"I can take him to the hospital while you get your wife and son," Rawston offered.

"But we need Joe to find the house," Con pointed out.

"It sounds to me like we can just follow the path," said Jack. "And at least Joe would be safe at the hospital. They have guns, Fenton. This rescue will be dangerous."

"You're right," Fenton conceded. "Deputy, are you sure you don't mind taking Joe?"

"No problem, Mr. Hardy," Rawston began. "I…"

"I'm not going to the hospital."

All the men turned to look at Joe. He was staring obstinately at his father. "I'm going with you."

"No way, Joe," said Fenton. "This is too dangerous…"

"You need me to find the house," Joe argued. "You said so."

"We can follow the path," Fenton told him.

"There's a turn in the path," Joe replied.

"And you can tell us which one to take," said Fenton firmly.

"I'm not telling you," said Joe. "I'm showing you." He folded his arms and glared at his father.

"Joe, you need to go to the hospital," said Sam. "Don't worry, we'll get Frank and your mom out safe."

"No! I told Frank that I'd come back."

The men stared down at the stubborn little face.

Fenton sighed. He knew Joe too well to hope that he would give in. Pulling Sam aside, Fenton whispered, "we can't waste anymore time. Let's bring Joe with us in the car. We won't be able to bring the cars as far as the house in case the kidnappers hear us, so we can just leave Joe in the car with Rawston."

Sam nodded.

"Okay, Joe," said Fenton, turning back to his son. "Let's go get your mother and Frank."

They climbed back into the cars. Jack Wayne was now in the patrol car with the sheriff, Rawston and JR. Joe was nestled in his father's arms in Tom Elling's station wagon. There was a grim silence in both cars as they drove along the dark path. Twenty minutes into the journey, Joe fell asleep.

Sam glanced at the boy as they trundled up the path. "I can't believe he came all this way in the dark, Fenton. He must have been terrified."

"He was desperate," said Fenton grimly, unconsciously tightening his hold on his son.

"Maybe, but it was still a very brave thing for a small child to do," Con put in. "You've got some son, Fenton."

Fenton nodded. I've got some family, he thought.

From what Joe had told him, Frank and Laura had shown equal bravery in how they were handling the situation. Frank's brainwave with the spoon had really impressed Fenton. It never ceased to amaze him just how smart Frank could be.

As for Laura…

He stared out the window. Joe had said Laura was very ill, and Fenton was terrified that the men might try something while she was so vulnerable.

Fenton swallowed the anger in his throat. He couldn't wait to get his hands on these men.

"Fenton, we're at the break in the road," Tom interrupted his musings. "You need to wake Joe."

Fenton gently shook his son. "Joe? Wake up, son. We need your help."

Joe awoke with a groan. His head was still throbbing and his hand was in agony.

"Are you okay?" asked his father staring down at him in concern.

Joe nodded. If his father knew how bad he really felt, he would probably send Joe straight to the hospital. And Joe wasn't going anywhere without his mother or his brother.

"Which way do we go, Joe?" asked Con gently, as the patrol car pulled in behind them.

Joe stared out the car window at both pathways and started to panic. He couldn't remember. Frowning, Joe bit his lip. Which way did I go? he wondered as he looked back and forth between both paths. The panic continued to rise. They both looked exactly the same.

The men were silent. They had seen the look of panic that crossed Joe's face and knew he was struggling to remember which way to go.

Which way? Which way? Joe strained to remember but his head felt thick. And I lost my map too! the child thought wildly.

Suddenly, his face lit up. The map! He had lost the map here!

Before Fenton could stop him, Joe had opened the car door, and was out and running to where he had dropped his bag.

The bag lay tossed and scattered. The dogs had ripped it apart. Joe rooted through the grass to find his map while the men stared at him, baffled.

Joe's hand closed on some paper and he yanked it up. But the moon was gone and he had no light.

"I can't see my map!" he wailed.

"Map?" Fenton repeated.

"I drew a map," said Joe. "So I'd know how to get back to Mom and Frank."

Upon hearing this, Tom Elling stepped out of the station wagon and handed a torch to Joe. "Here," he smiled. "I always keep this in the glove compartment just in case."

"Thanks," Joe smiled shyly at the old man. Switching on the torch, he aimed it at the map. After several seconds of studying the map, Joe pointed at one of the paths.

"That way," he told his father.

"Joe, are you sure?" Fenton asked. He had caught a glimpse of the map, it looked like nothing more than a few squiggles to him.

"Positive," Joe nodded confidently.

"Okay," said Fenton. "Lets get going."

They piled back into the car and set off again, stopping every now and again so that someone could get out and run up ahead to see if they were near the house. They didn't want to run the risk of the kidnappers hearing the cars.

Dawn was breaking when Sam took his turn to get out and run ahead. He came back five minutes later, grim-faced.

"This is it," he said. "The house is just up ahead."

All seven men climbed from the cars. Fenton turned to Rawston. "Can you stay with Joe?" he asked.

Rawston nodded. "No problem."

Joe opened his mouth to protest but his father stopped him.

"No, Joe," he said, holding up his hand. "This is too dangerous."

Joe looked ready to argue so Fenton added softly, "I can't get your mom and Frank out safely if I have to worry about you too."

"Okay," said Joe unhappily. He badly wanted to go with his father, but he wanted his mother and Frank home safe even more.

"Wait here for us, Joe. I promise we'll be back soon," his father reassured him.

Joe nodded and bit his lip.

As the other men moved out of sight, Rawston turned to Joe.

"Come on," he said. "Let's get you to the hospital."

Joe shook his head. "Dad told us to wait."

"You're hurt and you need to go to the hospital," said Rawston. "Get in the car, Joe."

"I'm not going anywhere without Mom and Frank," Joe declared.

"Yes you are, you're coming with me to the hospital," Rawston insisted angrily.

"You can't make me!" Joe snapped. He didn't like this man.

"Want to bet?" said Rawston and laughed.

Joe's blood ran cold. That laugh! That horrible, bark-like laugh!

Rawston saw the flash of recognition cross Joe's face and lunged at the child. Joe turned to run but Rawston grabbed him quickly, pinning both arms to his side.

"You almost ruined everything!" he hissed at Joe. "I'll be damned if I'll let that happen!"

Joe tried to yell but Rawston clamped a hand over his mouth. As he struggled in the man's grip, Joe could hear JR barking wildly from the backseat of the patrol car. He couldn't believe this was happening. This man was a police officer!

"And Fenton thought he was being so clever leaving you here with me," Rawston sneered. "Wonder what he'd say if he could see you now?"

"Take your hands off my son, you bastard!" a voice snarled suddenly.

A/N: Once again, thanks to everyone who reviewed!

Mocha Addict: The story is finished so you'll be getting a chapter a day if that makes you feel any better:-)

crystalpheonix: Thank you. And the story is finished so I'll have a chapter a day for everyone until it's finished. And I'm glad you think Joe is cute, I love writing about Joe!

Pen and Paper71: It's cool that you think the story is fun, I had fun writing it!