Lillian Duncan - Until Death Do Us Part (17 page)

CHAPTER 42

Dylan rushed in the room and Reggie’s bedside. He leaned in close, his voice low. “I can’t explain it now, but I’ve got to go. Theresa needs us, but I don’t want to leave you.” His face mirrored the anxiety in his voice
.
“She’s been kidnapped, but we know where —”

She heard his words but had a hard time comprehending them. Theresa kidnapped. She had a thousand questions, but they would have to wait
. She grabbed her husband’s a hands. “Don’t worry about me. Go help Theresa. I can take care of myself.”

“Are you sure? I can—”

“I’m absolutely sure. Go help my friend.”

He
started to turn but then came back to her. His lips pressed against hers, warm, tender, and loving. Tears sprung to her eyes. She held him tightly and returned his kiss.

He released her and their eyes met.

Her heart thudded. Not only was Theresa in danger but so was Dylan and Billy Clyde. Anything could go wrong while they were rescuing her. This could be the last time she…She smiled and pushed him away. “Go. I’ll be praying. For all of you. I love you.”

He gave her that sexy smile and turned.

Tears leaked out.
Oh, please keep him safe. Keep them all safe.

Kidnapped
. Why would someone kidnap Theresa? That was crazy. Theresa was so good, so loving. She volunteered at the schools as a nurse and was a midwife for their extremely rural area. Who would want to hurt her?

Billy m
ust be frantic. Billy. Reggie’s thoughts slowed. No one would want to kidnap Theresa—it had to have something to do with Billy and his work for the government.

Her mind flashed back to the closet and the banging.

They must have been destroying his computers. But why?

M
aybe the kidnapping was about money. Billy was a rich man. Reggie had no idea how rich, just that they were rich. People kidnapped rich people for the ransom all the time.

Oh, God. Keep them all safe. I don’t know what’s going on
, but You do and I know you have all creation in your hand. You know the number of hairs on our heads and you know the stars by name. Please pour your protection over them.

CHAPTER 43

Dylan looked over at Billy Clyde. The big man had to be in pain and exhausted, but he refused to acknowledge it. He had one goal—finding his wife. And Dylan knew the big man wouldn’t let anything stop him.

T
hey’d lost phone contact with her over an hour ago as they trudged through Cacapon State Park in the darkness. The GPS coordinates led the way.

Billy Clyde’s boss had come through and managed to get a trace on her phone call before it went dead. At least, Dylan hoped that was the only reason she’d disconnected so abruptly and wasn’t answering any longer.

He wanted to say something, but what could he say.

“This place is over 6000 acres.” Billy Clyde turned back toward him.

“Nice to know.” Dylan swatted a mosquito away from his face.

“Need a break, Monroe?”

“Not me. I’m right behind you.”

“Keep talking and making lots of noise. That way we scare off any bears that might be in the area.”

Dylan’s eyes roved over the wooded area, not that he could see anything in the darkness. “Bears?”

“Yep. And it’s a lot easier to scare them away if we make noise. We don’t want t
o sneak up on them and make them mad.”

“
Don’t they go to sleep at night?”

“Sometimes, unless they’re hungry.”

Dylan started singing.

“I said make some noise. I did
n’t mean to make their ears bleed.”

“So funny. Big Man.
” Dylan’s leg throbbed from the snake bites, but he’d never admit it to Billy Clyde. The man had saved his life more than once when they were in the Marines together and he was only too glad to repay the favor now.

He lost track of time as
they tramped through the woods and talked about inconsequential things. At times like this it didn’t do to dwell on the big things. Stay focused on the present.

Billy Clyde looked up from the portable GPS.
“OK. We’re getting close to the coordinates of the last time she called. Let’s stop a minute and catch our breath.”

Each man drained a water bottle, repacked it, took out their guns and looked at each other. After a short prayer the two of them walked. Now they were quiet.
Bears or not, they didn’t want to alert any two legged predators that might be lurking about.

They moved through the woods silently as if on foot patrol in enemy territory which
was the truth.

****

The nurse removed the IV from Reggie’s hand. “As soon as I get the doctor’s signature you can go but your husband hasn’t returned yet.”

“
It’s not a problem. Can you recommend a nearby motel, hopefully within walking distance or does Berkeley Springs have a taxi company, by chance.”

The nurse stared at her
a moment. “Do you need help?” Her voice was filled with compassion.

This was a good person, Reggie could tell.
“That’s very sweet of you to be concerned, but I don’t need help. Just a motel room until my husband gets back. There’s been an emergency he had to take care of.”

“Are you sure?”
The nurse looked doubtful.

“Really
. It’s fine.”

The nurse nodded. “OK. I’ll be back in a bit.” She turned and left the cubicle.

Reggie wondered where Dylan and Billy Clyde were right now. Her stomach churned at the danger they were in, but she’d married a man with a warrior’s spirit. And that meant he would gladly put himself in danger to help another.

Dylan had done it for her without
a moment’s hesitation and he barely knew her at the time. And she would expect him to help others regardless of the danger to himself, especially Theresa and Billy Clyde.

Such special pe
ople. She wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for them.

The nurse walked back in with a smile pushing a wheel chair. “Your chariot awaits yo
u. I’m taking my break and I’ll drive you down to the motel.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to. No arguing about it.”

Tears filled Reggie’s eyes.
God really did have a way of making things work out for the best.

CHAPTER
44

A full moon had lit their way, but the darkness of the night had turned to dawn hours earlier. The air was as thick with tension as it was with humidity. The rain would be here soon. Neither he nor Billy Clyde talked any longer. The only sounds were their breathing along with the sounds of the woods. They’d left civilization hours earlier.

I
n front of him, Billy Clyde stopped.

Dylan froze in mid step and with deliberate slowness lowered his
suspended foot to the ground. Neither man made a sound. Billy turned and motioned for him to move to his left.

As quiet as a lioness stalking her prey, Dylan moved through
the trees.             

The hairs on his arms tingled.
Not fear, but a healthy dose of cautiousness in situations like these was a good thing.
Please, God let Theresa be alive.

He moved forward.
Dylan took his time moving. Sweat trickled down his back. He watched and listened for any signs of other people.

A movement to his right.

Theresa stepped out from behind a tree.

Relief floode
d through Dylan.

Billy appeared to fly through the air because a second later he was at his wife’s side an
d kissing her. He held her head gently in his massive hands and kissed every inch of her face.

“I hate to break up this reunion but we need to get o
ut of here.”

Theresa walked over and hugge
d him. “I knew you’d be here. I can always count on you.”

“Always.”

She turned to Billy Clyde. “I want to go home.”

Dylan looked away.

“What’s wrong?” Theresa looked at the two men. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“We’ll talk later, hon. Right now, Dylan’s right. We need to get out of here and back to the van. Can you walk
? If you can’t, I can carry you, gladly carry you.”

“I can walk.
”  She looked up at her husband. “I’m exhausted and want to go home.”

Dylan cleared his throat
. “Let’s go.”

****

It had been more than twelve hours since Dylan left her in the hospital and she hadn’t heard a word from them. She could only imagine the worst. Her cell phone was her constant companion, but she didn’t dare call them since she didn’t want to endanger them any more than they were.

After the very kind nurse drove
her to the motel in the early hours of the morning, she’d managed to sleep some, but precious little. Every time she closed her eyes, horrible pictures flashed through her mind. She had no idea what was actually going on except they were in danger.

All of them.

Selfish. That was the only way to describe her, selfish and self-absorbed. Here she’d been worrying about petty things when Theresa’s life was in danger. How did God put up with her? Shame washed over her.

She walked to the night stand and opened the drawer.

She smiled. Just what she needed. Her fingers caressed the black book with the gold letters embossed on it. THE HOLY BIBLE.

She sat at the edge of the bed flipping through the pages, gaining comfort
from the words she read. The rustle of the pages sounded like God’s whispering in her ear.

Her phone rang
.

Her hand shook as s
he flipped open the phone.

“Reggie, it’s me. Theresa’s with us and she’s fine. It’s all over.
Where are you?”

Over and everyone
safe.
It was as if her body had a mind of its own. Every part of her started shaking. Her legs wouldn’t hold her up. She leaned against the bed and allowed herself to slide to the floor.

Between sobs, she told Dylan where she was.

CHAPTER 45             

Billy Clyde’s van pulled into the parking lot. She dropped the curtain and ran out the door. She stood there waving until the van pulled into a parking space in the hotel parking lot.

Doors opened.

Billy Clyde and Theresa stepped out from the panel do
or, arms entwined. Dylan jumped out of the driver’s side.              

They’d said
“until death do us part” when they’d taken their vows and she meant every word, but she hadn’t expected either of them to face death so soon. She rushed to her husband and flung herself into his arms.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight again, ever.” She managed to say as she kissed him.
After several long and loving kisses, she extricated herself from Dylan’s arms and turned toward Theresa. “Are you okay? I’ve been so worried. I had no idea what was going on.”

“You don’t know?”

“Not really, I was in…” Reggie’s voice trailed off as she realized she wasn’t sure what she should or shouldn’t say. Had they told her about the fire yet? “I haven’t really been able to talk with them. It should come as no surprise, Dylan kept me out of the loop. Let’s go in the room.”

The group walked side by side, somehow everyone hugging everyone else as they did. Once they were in the room, Reggie closed the door. She pointed at the table in the room. “There’s food and stuff. It’s a little cold, but—”

Theresa walked over to the table and grabbed a burger. “Doesn’t matter. I’m starving.” She unwrapped the burger and bit in.

Dylan and Billy Clyde did the same.

Theresa looked bad. She normally could be mistaken for a model—a short one but not at the moment. Her clothes were filthy. Her bronze-colored skin peeked through the leg of her ripped hot pink pants . Her strawberry blonde highlights were sticking up at odd angles, but her brown skin glowed with unspeakable joy.

S
he looked at peace as she chewed her burger.

After several bites,
Theresa turned to her husband with her hands on her hips. She might only be five foot, but she could be intimidating when she wanted to be. “Now, I want to know what’s going on.” She turned to Reggie. “They haven’t told me a thing so far. Only that you were in the hospital. What happened?”

Reggie’s eyes moved to Billy Clyde who shook his head.

Theresa moved toward
her husband, her hands still on her hips. “Don’t you shake your head at Reggie. I want to know what’s going on. Why you didn’t take me home instead of here. After what I’ve been through, I am in no mood.”

“Don’t blame you for that, baby. And I’m not trying to hide anything. The truth is Dylan and I don’t exactly know what’s going on yet. So, we all need to be calm and hear from both of yo
u beautiful women what happened, but first—”

Theresa turned toward Reggie. “Did something happen to you, too?”

Billy stepped in front of his wife. “But as I said, first things first. You and I need to talk.”

“I rented the room right besides ours.” Reggie said.
She pointed at the connecting door. “It’s unlocked.”

Theresa arched an eyebrow at her
. “You did, did you? Why?” She turned to her husband. Her voice shook. “Billy, tell me what’s going on. Why am I not at my own house?”

“Okay
. You win. I wanted to tell you sort of gentle and in private, but the truth is Reggie was in the hospital for more than her diabetes. She was being treated for smoke inhalation.” He pushed up his sleeve. “And I got this burn.”

No one spoke. Theresa’s demeanor went from loud and combative to calm as she digested the words. Her voice was quiet. “Our home
?”

Billy Clyde nodded. “
We got back from Dylan getting treated for snake bites and—”

“Snake bites?” Reggie’s eyes were wide. “When—”

Billy Clyde held up a hand. “We’ll get there, ladies. All of us have questions and information to share. Anyway, we got back to the house and found it on fire. Reggie crawled outside after getting free. How’d you do that anyway?”

“It wasn’t easy. I can tell you that.”

Dylan added. “But as you can see, she’s safe and sound.”

Theresa moved to Billy Clyde. His arms encircled her. She asked.
“How bad is it?”

“Bad. According to the fire marshal, the sprinklers didn’t come on. Only thing I can figure out is they were disabled.”

“By the same people that kidnapped me?”

“Probably.”

Theresa’s gaze landed on Reggie. “Are you okay?”

“
I’m better now that we’re all together and everyone’s safe. As for me, I’m fine. They wouldn’t have released me if I wasn’t.”

T
heresa’s shouldered slumped. “Our home.”

“Not our
home anymore, baby. As soon as we get this sorted out, I’m quitting and we’re going home. To Nashville. To the kids.”

Theresa wiped her eyes. “But Billy, your job is important. You make a difference.”

“It’s not up for discussion.” He walked over and his massive arms surrounded his wife. She put her arms around him and he picked her up like a baby and sat down on the bed. Theresa laid her head on his shoulder and sobbed.

A phone rang
. Billy looked over at Dylan. “It’s them.”

He gently sat Theresa on the bed
, held a finger to his lips, and flipped open the phone. He put it on speaker. “You burned down my house.”

“It couldn’t be helped.
In a few days, I’ll call you back to tell you where that adorable wife of yours is.”

“Not necessary. I know where she is.”

Silence.

“She’s sitting right beside me.”

“Good. Then are business with each other is finished.”

“This is not going to end well for you.”

“It already has, my friend.”