Chapter 12

I hadn't realized just how exhausted I was until I woke with a horrendous noise reverberating within the confines of the small barn. I'd managed to fall into a deep dreamless sleep and felt so much better for it, if only the noise would stop.

The cock-a-doo·dle-doos from a rooster crowing was intense to put it mildy, but at least it meant that it was morning, and I hadn't been found, so far. Moving slightly caused me to wince as a pain shot through me from my shoulder. I was really hoping that it was just badly bruised and that I hadn't broken anything. With the noise that the hens were making I wasn't aware that anyone was here until a figure suddenly appeared in front of me. The woman from last night, came to me as I remembered her helping me and then the strange conversation that we'd had. She wasn't as old as I had thought. Maybe her rugged complexion and how she had her greying hair pulled back in a ponytail were what had given me the wrong impression. Her clothes were old fashioned, a long dark skirt with a shirt over the top, both pretty dirty.

"You look better this morning, more color in your cheeks. Damn, where did Percy go?"

From looking at me the woman was casting her eyes back and forth around the area where I was.

"Here, some bread and coffee. Good heavens where can he be?"

I took the bread and coffee as she held them out toward me but was totally confused with who she was talking about. I hadn't seen any one come into this small area where I was hiding amongst the bales of hay.

"Mrs. Holland. Who are you talking to?"

She froze and looked at me before almost running toward where the male voice had come from. From the look on her face, she looked to be frightened which in turn had me worrying about who had turned up.

"Percy, he's always disappearing. One minute he's next to me and the next minute he's wandered off somewhere"

That was when movement under the hay caught my attention. I watched intrigued as the cutest piglet I'd ever seen began snorting against the ground. Percy, Percy the pig. It made sense now. I tried to shoo the little critter away from me or at least get him to quieten down a bit. At this rate whoever was with the woman would be coming to investigate what the cause of the noise had been. Fortunately as the piglet moved away from me the woman swooped in and picked him up, much to his disgust if the noise that he was making was anything to go by.

"Mrs. Holland why were you so late going into the house last night? There was a concern when the men saw a light in here"

I closed my eyes as I waited for what she would say. Would she lie for me, to keep me from being found?

"Well of course I was in here late last night. The same reason why I'm here so early this morning. Here hold Percy for me"

It went quiet, except for the interruption of the sound from the hens before Mrs. Holland's exasperated voice echoed around me. Oh shit, would she feel that she had to tell him the truth.

"Okay, so you don't like pigs. I was here to check on Henrietta. She's been sat on those eggs for weeks now. I like to know when the chicks have hatched so that I can move them to somewhere safer. Ah, you're doing so well Henrietta. They'll be here soon darling"

I wasn't sure what the man would make of Mrs. Holland's story, but I was smiling at how well she handled him. A few moments later Mrs. Holland walked round to where I was and sat on one of the hay bales. Time to talk, I was sure of that.

"He's gone. He don't like me and the feeling's mutual. He's always dropping in unannounced like that and he never likes it when he can't catch me out. We need to get you away from here"

This was what I was waiting for, an opportunity for me to contact someone. Once upon a time I would have called Ranger and it pained me that I knew his number off by heart. Not now though. I'd make a call to Jonas. He'd talk to Jex and Oscar and work something out.

"If you have a phone then I can call"

Her shaking head wasn't what I expected.

"No signal down here and we don't have a land line. If we have an emergency then we've been told to let them know at the house. Lassie, you never did say how you ended up here in such a sorry state"

Oh shit. No I hadn't and to be honest I wasn't comfortable with telling her the truth. If she knew that I'd been kidnapped, then she might feel that she could get into trouble if she helped me.

"My boyfriend. He had this brilliant idea that we could go hiking. The thing is that we ended up arguing and he just abandoned me. I got lost and then I ended up tumbling over some rocks"

I couldn't look her in the eye and blatantly lie to her but when I heard her sigh, I was looking up into a woman who looked concerned. I was pretty sure that she knew that there was more to my story than what I'd told her but it seemed that she was okay with what she'd heard.

"I don't drive. We have trucks come out that deliver what we need. Food and supplies for the house and enough for me to manage on. Old Jethro is due to deliver some fresh fruit and veg this morning. He don't like them at the house, but he has a living to make"

"Would he take me to the nearest town"

Hoping that I was understanding where Mrs. Holland was going.

"Yes, but. One of the men from the house always rides with him when he drops off my food. We got to work out a way for me to talk to Jethro on his own and then get you in the back of the van without being seen"

I frowned at Mrs. Holland because that could get her into serious trouble. Why would she do all that for me?

"Why are doing this?"

Now curious as to what was motivating her. As she let out a big sigh and leant forward with her elbows on her knees, I knew there was something that she wanted to tell me. As she looked up with those pale blue eyes, I could almost sense the pain that she was emanating.

"I used to work up at the house. Cleaning and laundry mainly. I got too close to one of the girls. Such a pretty thing but she was always so angry, saying that she shouldn't be here then asking me to help her to get away. I agreed to help her"

I could empathize with how Mrs. Holland had felt. Hell, if someone asked me for help then I'd do what I could.

"Was she okay?"

Hoping that what she'd seen or heard wasn't any more ominous than an unhappy pregnant woman.

"Never saw her again. Then I was banned from going to the house. My husband he was so annoyed with me. Said it was none of our business what happened there because they were paying our bills"

I would say that Mrs. Holland felt guilty for not being able to help that girl and I was sure like me, she was wondering what had happened to her. So here I was, a girl in trouble asking for her help. Something that she felt that she needed to do.

"Jethro will be here in about two hours. I need to go, I need to work out how to get you out of here"

Once Mrs. Holland had gone, I finished eating the bread, which I must admit was delicious, then finished the coffee even though it had gone cold. I was fidgeting because I really needed to pee. Looking around I had no idea of where I could go. Getting onto my feet emphasized the bumps and bruises but at least the headache had subsided. Looking around I spied an empty bucket in the corner. Well, it didn't look as though it was being used for anything.

Squatting over that bucket had me remembering the scene from that room where we'd found Lisa's ankle bracelet and suddenly, I felt extremely vulnerable. Once I was fully dressed, I considered the predicament that I was in. I was totally trusting Mrs. Holland. Surely though if she intended to turn me over to the people in that house then she would have done it by now, wouldn't she? I didn't have a lot of choice. Being out in the open in the daylight wasn't an option because I would be easily spotted. I was going to have to trust her and whatever plan she came up with.

A plan, my God, even I could have come up with a better plan. Okay, maybe not. Did my plans sound as crazy to everyone else? Geez, I hoped not. Hearing the sound of an engine I moved toward the door of the barn to see if her plan was working. Mrs. Holland had somehow managed to corral her pigs onto the only road out of here. I assumed that the man with her was Jethro, the man who had been driving the van. He looked a similar age to my father but was better built. Greying hair and the signs of a paunch didn't detract from how quickly he moved. He was laughing as he worked with Mrs. Holland to get the large animals to move, while a younger man dressed in black was stood by the side of the van just watching them. I wasn't sure what he might be thinking but hoped that he saw the whole fiasco for what it was. Pigs lose on the road.

If I was going to get into that van, then he had to move. It was almost comical watching Mrs. Holland and Jethro as they bent down low talking to the pigs, though I was hoping that she was telling Jethro what she wanted him to do. Jethro looking at the man had me worried. Was he going to betray Mrs. Holland?

"Move it kid. I'm too old for this shit. You help move these damn pigs while I drive through, or we'll be here all day"

That was my cue to move. I went back through the barn to the side entrance that would bring me out behind the van. A quick look toward the house showed that no one was there watching, so as Jethro opened up the back doors and removed a box I was climbing up and inside. The doors slamming shut had me jumping and it was then that I felt so very nervous. The box that Jethro had unloaded were supplies for Mrs. Holland so as soon as he had dropped them at her front door then he'd be returning to drive to the next village. Those nerves were ramping up as the minutes went by so I very carefully, hoping to minimize any noise, moved toward the front to squat down in the corner.

It was dark with a couple of cardboard boxes inside the van but feeling around me my fingers caught hold of a rough fabric. That was pulled over me as I made the best of hiding behind the boxes. Suddenly the doors were yanked open, and I was almost sure that I'd be found.

"Only one delivery to make to the diner, kid"

I cringed, trying to push myself as far I could into the corner, so close and this could be over any minute. It going dark and the door closing allowed me to let out the breath that I was holding.

It was a long and bumpy ride sat in the dark in the back of an empty van. To be honest I'd rather have fallen asleep than to be plagued with the thoughts rattling around in my head. The most repetitive question that I had was why. Why was I grabbed? Was that house where we were heading for when the car went off the road? Why would they want to take me to that house? Why were those girls there? Of course, the doubts to where my questions were leading me to weaseled their way into my head. I was assuming that my final destination had been that house, what if it wasn't? I'd have to have a look at Google maps to answer that and to do that I needed to know where the hell I was.

It seemed like an age later when the van came to a stop and the engine noise faded. At last, the back door opened, and a smiling Jethro held out his hand to help me down.

"Farmington Diner, love. There's a payphone at the back"

No sooner had he let go of my hand than he was walking back to the driver's door. I turned to look at the diner where I'd been brought. Sheesh, for a diner it sure looked quaint and very popular judging from the number of vehicles parked out front. Looking down at my clothes I knew it would be a bad decision to go inside, so began to walk around to the back, where Jethro had said a phone was. Maybe I was tired, maybe I just wasn't thinking. I mean why would I think that someone might know where I was. But they did. A hand around my waist and one over my mouth took me totally by surprise as I was pulled in through a doorway, the door shutting behind us.

"Annie, stay quiet. There's a car just pulled up"

Oscar? How the hell was he here? How did know how to find me? Then it dawned on me what he'd said. They were still looking for me? Christ, was I ever going to get a break? The hand was removed from my mouth, but the arm remained tight around my waist. In some ways it felt comforting to know that someone had my back. We waited, watching through the frosted glass as silhouettes passed by. There were voices and when someone turned the knob on the door, I thought that I was going to have a heart attack. I'm not sure when Oscar had managed to lock the door, but he had. It was back to waiting until we were sure that they had gone.

"Stay here while I check around"

Came from Oscar before he unlocked the door and casually walked out. I sank down onto the floor now that I was alone, looking around at where I was. Seemed that I was sat inside a storage area for garden equipment, even down to a mower for cutting the grass. Hearing the door open I was shrinking back into that storage area so afraid now of who could be there.

"Annie, come on. Let's get out of here"

I let out a sigh of relief and let Oscar take my hand and pull me to my feet. I was following him to where I assumed that he'd parked his truck, my hand close to his back to keep him in touching distance. When he came to a sudden stop, I almost bumped into him, and my hand caught the bottom of the jacket that he was wearing. Looking beyond him was a man pointing a gun at us. Oscar's arm came back to push me behind him, protecting me from the man. I hated that he did that, that he put himself between me and our assailant.

"Just want the woman. We can do this the easy way or the hard way"

Came a low deep voice ahead of me. I felt Oscar move, though at the time I wasn't sure what he was going to do. The sound of a gun being fired terrified me, and at first, I thought it was warning shot. Until I felt Oscar fall away from me. Red bloomed out on the front of his chest as he lay on the ground beside me. His gun was in his hand which accounted for his movement. Quickly I knelt down beside him, my hands covering the bloodied area as tears ran down my cheeks. He had to be okay, he had to survive this. This was all my fault.

"You have to help him. He's going to die"

"Too late lady"

Came from above me just before I felt the stinging sensation at the top of my arm.

Flashes of Oscar's bloodied body kept repeating in my mind which had a sob escape from me. I cried and I cried over what had happened to him. Would someone have come out of the diner and helped him? Was there a chance that he was still alive? Seriously wounded but alive.