Page 58 of In Pursuit of the Truth

He ran to the barn and cautiously stepped between the doors. “Seth! Where are you?” He tried to see inside, but the darkness, plus the smoke, made it impossible. “Seth, it’s Nate. We’ve got the bad guy. You can come out now.”

“Help!” Coughing followed the faint cry.

Nate pulled the flashlight from his pocket and flipped it on. Smoke was everywhere, and he had no idea where Seth had gone. “God, please guide me to him.” He took several more steps inside. “Seth! Where are you?”

“Nate. Help me!”

He turned in the direction of Seth’s voice and found the boy sitting on the ground, his right foot caught in a broken floorboard.

“I can’t get it out.” He coughed, his eyes watering and tears flowing down his cheeks. “I don’t want to stay here anymore.”

“Hang in there, buddy. You and I are getting out of this together.”

As Nate got closer, he dropped to his knees and then crawled to eliminate the possibility that he, too, might go through the floor. He gripped some of the wood that had trapped the boy’s foot and yanked. It took three tries, but a satisfying crack sounded as the wood came free.

“Okay, let’s see if we can get your foot out now.” He helped Seth’s foot through the hole.

Nate coughed as he grabbed the back of Seth’s shirt to make sure he didn’t lose the boy in the darkness. “Stay on your hands and knees. We’re going to crawl out of here as fast as we can. Go!”

Together, they worked their way across the creaking floor toward where Nate knew the door was, even if he couldn’t quite see it.

“Walker!”

“We’re here.” He yelled as loudly as he could. As soon as he saw the light streaming in from outside, he stood and scooped Seth into his arms, and ran the rest of the way.

They burst from the barn to find Paris waiting, relief on his face. “Thank God! You were about to make me play firefighter and come in there after you.”

Nate started to laugh but ended up coughing instead. He turned his attention to Seth. “Are you okay?”

Seth coughed and laid his head against Nate’s chest. “Did Jordan make it home?”

The boy’s concern for his little brother over himself brought tears to Nate’s eyes. “Yes, he’s home with your mom. I’ll bet they’ll both be here soon. Areyouokay?”

The boy nodded against Nate’s chest. “I knew you’d find me.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

It took everything Bailey had to wait until Jenny stopped the car before flinging the back door open. She reached out for Jordan and together they ran to where Nate was holding Seth. Bailey threw her arms around them both and allowed the tears to flow freely. “Praise God, you’re both okay.” She picked up Jordan who put his arms around his big brother.

Bailey threaded a hand through the hair at the base of Nate’s neck. “Thank you.” She leaned in and pressed a short kiss to his lips before hugging all three of them closer.

The sounds of burning wood and crackling fire were punctuated by sirens as fire engines and an ambulance made their way into the clearing around the barn.

The next few minutes were a whirlwind as EMTs checked Nate and Seth for smoke inhalation and decided that they didn’t need to be taken to the ER. Bailey sagged with relief. Things could’ve ended so differently. She refused to let her mind consider the possibilities.

Jenny came up and nudged Bailey’s arm. “Rachel’s asking to talk to you. She says she needs to tell yousomething because you’ll understand. It’s okay if you want to refuse.”

Bailey’s first instinct was to tell her no, but immediately afterward, she knew she would always wonder if she didn’t talk to her. Nate looked over the boys’ heads in concern.

“I’ll speak with her, but I want Nate to come with me.”

“Of course. You two go, and I’ll stay with the boys.” She knelt at their level. “We’re going to watch the firefighters put out the fire, aren’t we?”

They both nodded. Each of them took one of her hands.

Jenny looked up with tear-filled eyes. “She’s in the back of Baker’s car.”

Nate put an arm around Bailey’s shoulder and leaned in close. “You don’t have to do this.”

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