Page 52 of Trace's Passion
Stacy shook her head, “Oh no. Scott! We need you!”
Scott rushed out of his office and Trace said, “We need you to stay here and man the office. Brek, Reid, Kian and I are going to go out and look for Emery. Kian will go with Brek and Reid will go with me.”
The brothers nodded and Scott did as well, “Stacy will keep us all informed of any chatter on the police radio and we will mark off the places we check.”
The men nodded again, and Reid followed him out to the car again. But before they got in Brek got a call on his phone.
“Hey baby. I can’t talk long. Emery is missing.”
“What? What do you mean?” He said into the phone, “Yeah I remember that small shack. You told me we needed to tear it down, but we have been too busy, and I didn’t think it would be an issue. Okay, wait. Let me put you on speaker.”
Sienna’s voice came through the phone, “Trace, I was outside behind the greenhouse clearing out some plants because we want to add more room onto it, and I heard someone walking through the woods, so I looked over and there was a man back here. He is pacing back and forth and talking to himself. Okay more like yelling to himself, like he is mad.”
Trace’s heart stopped, “Can you see someone with him?”
“No. I only see him. And I normally wouldn’t worry about someone hiking through the woods, because it is normal and beautiful out here, but he keeps going in and out of that little shack. There isn’t anything in there to mess with. Grandpa built it so he could hunt deer, but it was too close to the house. Like he couldn’t stand having it further away than what it was.” She paused, “I know the greenhouse is a bit away from the house, and I can barely see him through the woods that surround the shack, but he seems agitated. Is he someone I should worry about? Should I go over there and talk to him?”
“NO! Absolutely not! You stay put and we will come check it out. It could be nothing, but I don’t want you in any danger.” Brek yelled and Trace spoke up, “Just stay safe Sienna. I can’t worry about you and Emery too. It’s too much. So just stay put.”
“Okay. Please hurry. I don’t like it. He gives me the creeps and I only really noticed him because I saw movement from the corner of my eye. We aren’t too far into the woods, but it's usually far enough that most people don’t know there is a good trail here and they rarely come here. It isn’t a popular hiking spot, though like I said there have been people here before. But no one messes with the shack. Most of the time they walk right past it and don’t know it’s there. I know it’s small and unnoticeable, but it’s big enough for just a bed, the small kitchen and that’s about it. But I don’t like that he is there. It seems weird.”
Brek nodded, “Stay put. We are on our way there now.”
“I love you Brek. Please be safe. Both of you. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Brek let out a small breath, “It could be nothing, but it could also be everything. We need to check it out just in case. I love you too Sienna.”
He hung up and nodded at Trace, and Kian got in front of Brek’s cruiser and Trace got in his with Reid.
“That was Brek’s wife, my sister. They live on the edge of town that nestle the woods and their house sits far back from the road. And where she's at is far enough back that she can see everything happen in the woods.”
Reid nodded and Trace drove as quickly as he could to Sienna’s house.
When they pulled up, Brek jumped out and kissed Sienna quickly and she rushed them out to the greenhouse where they could only just see the faint outline of the shed in the woods.
She had built her greenhouse quite a bit away from her house and so it too was nestled in the woods.
When she pointed out the shack, they couldn’t see any movements and she deflated a bit.
“Oh, he must have left. I don’t know. It just seemed weird to me that he was here. No one has just stuck around. I don’t know what to think. That’s why I called you.”
Brek pulled her into his side and kept her tucked there. He kissed the side of her head, “We will go check it out anyway, okay?”
She nodded and Brek put his hands on her shoulders. “You stay here. Kian will stay close by if you need anything. And Scott and Stacy are on standby if something happens. Be safe.”
He kissed her, then Brek, Reid and Trace started walking slowly through the woods, keeping behind trees and doing their best not to be seen just in case the man was still there.
When they got close to the shack, they could hear a man yelling at someone and it made his blood run cold.
He looked at Brek and then at Reid and they both nodded and kept walking quietly and carefully up to the shack.
Reid stuck back and hid behind a big tree, his gun out and ready.
Brek nodded at him and signaled that he would go around back this time and he quickly melted into the trees.
Trace took a deep breath and walked up and off to the side of the shack door and peeked inside.
Emery was tied to a metal framed camp bed, and she was leaning as far away from the man standing before her as she could, fear and revulsion on her face.
