Page 77 of Serve and Protect
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We’ve been out here almost an hour on foot and moving at a good pace when we get our first inkling we might be on the right track.
I signal the team to stop. “I hear water.”
Hannah and Killian come to a stop, and we all three listen. We can make out the sound of swiftly moving water off to our left.
We contemplate cutting through the trees to locate the stream, thinking we can follow it to the cabin. But Scout makes up our minds for us when he sprints ahead with a new sense of eagerness.
We keep pace with Scout, who’s moving faster and faster as if he’s zeroing in on his quarry. It’s not long until we round a bend, and there ahead of us, in a small clearing, is a run-down log cabin that has definitely seen better days. The stream is close by, too. We can hear the rushing water.
The cabin is a single story log structure. It’s a square building with a door in the center of the front wall, a window on each side. There’s a wooden porch on the front with a sagging overhang. I spot an ATV parked alongside the building, partially covered with a filthy dark blue tarp.
Hannah calls Scout back to her, and we stay back, out of direct sight of the cabin. While Hannah radios her people with an update, I send out a message to my station, calling on all available officers to join me. I let them know where to rendezvous with us. We won’t be able to make a move until I have a sufficient law enforcement presence on site.
Ricky and Jace are the first ones on the scene. The rest of the SAR team shows up, but I insist they pull way back out of the line of fire. They’re search and rescue, not law enforcement. This is undoubtedly a volatile situation.
Jack Merchant walks up to me, looking as calm and deadly as a person can. “I can help.” He’s got a 9mm tucked into his hip holster.
I figure he can as he has an extensive background in military special ops.
Owen Ramsey joins him. “I can, too.” He’s armed as well.
The time spent waiting for more officers to show up is unbearable. I want to rush the cabin right now, guns blazing, and put an end to this, but of course I can’t do that. I have no idea where Jennie is inside that cabin—assuming she’s even in there—or if she is, what shape she’s in. If I go in there half-cocked, I’d be putting her at risk.
So I do my best to tamp down my anxiety and focus on a positive outcome.
I pull Ricky aside. “I’ve got a plan. Listen carefully, and don’t fuck this up.”
“What kind of plan?” he asks, frowning at me. “You’d better not be planning something stupid.”
“I’m going to do whatever it takes to rescue Jennie, and you’re going to help me.”
Hold on, Jennie. I’ll get you out of there.
Chapter 30 – Jennie
Eventually, my bladder really is full, and I have no choice but to empty it before I pee myself. “David, I need to go to the outhouse.”
He points to the corner of the room. “Use the bucket.”
“I can’t use a bucket. Be serious. At least let me use the outhouse. You can come with me, if you insist. You don’t even have to untie my hands, just my feet so I can walk.”
“You promise you won’t try anything funny?”
For the first time since this ordeal began, I feel a surge of optimism. If I can get outside, I have a chance of escaping. “I promise.”
He withdraws a serrated knife from a sheath strapped to his hip and cuts the ropes binding my wrists to the headboard posts.
Immediately, I wince as I sit up and cradle my ravaged wrists in my lap. The skin is rubbed raw, and the drying blood itches. “I don’t suppose you have a first-aid kit, do you?”
“You don’t need it. You’re fine.”
He proceeds to cut the ropes from my ankles, too. They’re in about the same shape as my wrists. The sheet is splotched with blood.
I realize this place already looks like a crime scene, and it’s likely to look a lot worse before it’s over. All I care about is that the people I love don’t get hurt.
“Can I please have my shoes?” I ask as I swing my feet to the wooden floorboards.
