Return of the Prodigal Son (15 page)

“What do you mean? Aren’t they with you?” She was on her feet, brushing the dirt from her hands on the legs of her pants. “They asked if they could walk up to your house. I told them they could.”

Seeing the look of panic coming into her eyes he grabbed her roughly by the shoulders. “Take a deep breath and think. Did you see anybody drive past here?”

She started to shake her head, then stopped. “Only a delivery truck.”

“How long ago did it go by?”

“Right after Cory and Taylor left for your place. About an hour ago.”

He was already dialing the phone. “Describe the truck.”

“It was—” she had to choke back a sob “—white, I think. Yes. White with…yellow letters. One of those overnight delivery trucks. I thought you’d ordered something.”

Donovan spoke tersely into the phone. “This is 20142 here. Terminated but still on file. This is top priority. Any report of a stolen delivery truck? Either last night or early this morning?”

He waited, hating the way Andi’s face had gone ghostly white.

“Right. He’s grabbed a boy of nine and a girl of five. They’re wearing…” He turned to Andi, who struggled to think.

“Cory was wearing jeans and an orange T-shirt. Taylor was in pink shorts and a pink-checked shirt.”

Donovan gave the description. “I’ll fax their photo.” In an aside he said to Andi, “Give me your most recent photo of Cory and Taylor. And an article of clothing that carries their scent.” As Andi took off at a run toward the house he spoke into the phone. “Take my location. I want your best men at the mother’s house, around the house and invisible until this is resolved. I want aerial surveillance. He’ll ditch the truck as soon as he can, knowing it’s hot. Here’s my cell phone number. I’ll keep it open for any report.” He tucked the phone in his pocket and turned just as Andi came running across the lawn, holding out a photo of Cory and Taylor and two soiled T-shirts.

Tears streamed down her ashen cheeks. “What is this about, Donovan? Why would anyone want to harm my children?”

“Nobody’s going to hurt them.” He dragged her close and pressed his forehead to hers, wishing he had time to offer her the comfort she needed right now. But time was too precious. He couldn’t spare even one minute.

In a tone rough with impatience he held her a little away and stared into her eyes. “Now listen to me. I know this is asking a lot, but right now you can’t afford to fall apart. Cory and Taylor need you to be strong. Do you understand me?”

She nodded, struggling to shut down the sobs that had already begun. He watched her suck air into her lungs and swallow back her tears.

“Good girl.” He allowed himself a quick embrace, and one slight brush of his hand along her hair before releasing her. “Now go inside and stay close to the phone. They’ll need to hear their mother’s voice if they should call. There will be protection here around the house. You stay inside.”

She looked up at him with eyes that seemed too big for her face. A face ravaged with terror. “What about you? Where are you going?”

He was already striding toward his car. “I’m going to bring them home. I give you my word on that.”

“Lassiter?” The voice on the phone was one Donovan recognized from his days with the C.I.A.

“Yeah, Brad?”

“The truck was abandoned on a dirt road not far from you, outside the town of Prattsville. No sign of the driver or the kids. But aerial surveillance thinks they’ve spotted a lone man crossing a stretch of pasture not far from there.”

“I want that man.”

“You’ll have him. If they can’t land a chopper, they’ll drop a couple of men who’ll track him and pick him up.”

“Good. Now give me the exact location of the dirt road.” Donovan listened intently before saying, “Thanks, Brad.” He dropped his cell phone into his shirt pocket and turned back in the opposite direction.

Fifteen minutes later, as he caught sight of the delivery truck, he was waved to the side of the road by a uniformed officer. Once Donovan flipped open his wallet and showed his identification, the officer stood to one side, allowing him to step out of his car.

Donovan moved quickly to the van, with the officer beside him. “How long do you think it’s been here?”

“I was directed here by aerial, sir. That couldn’t have been more than half an hour ago. After determining that the van was empty, I checked the engine. It was still warm. I was told to keep everyone away so that any evidence inside wouldn’t be contaminated.”

“Good work. But you saw no sign of two children?”

“No, sir.”

Donovan glanced around, speaking as much to himself as to the officer. “There wouldn’t have been much time for the driver to dispose of them in the woods. From the position of this van, I’d say he caught sight of the chopper overhead and made a run for it.”

“Yes, sir. That’s what aerial thought, too.”

“Which means he’d have left two scared kids alone. So, why aren’t they here?”

“He may have lost them in the woods. We have a dog and tracker on the way. Don’t worry, sir. If they’re in there, we’ll find them.”

“Good. In the meantime, I’m going ahead on my own.” Donovan strode to his car and retrieved the soiled T-shirts. “Give these to the tracker.”

Like a shadow he slipped from sunlight into the damp, dark cover of the forest, his eyes straining for any sign of two frightened little children.

Chapter 12

D
onovan caught sight of the orange thread snagged on a low-hanging branch. As he pulled it free he closed his hand around it. It was the first positive sign he’d found since he’d stepped into the woods fifteen minutes earlier. When he heard the gurgle of water up ahead he made his way there and paused to study two sets of small footprints along the banks of a stream.

“Good boy,” he muttered. “So far you’re doing everything right.” Now, he thought, if only Cory could keep a cool head.

It would be so easy for two small children, on their own and running from danger, to panic and find themselves facing all sorts of trouble. The worst thing, of course, would be if they should become separated. They could end up walking in endless circles in search of each other until exhaustion overcame them.

Donovan cautioned himself not to think of that now. He needed to stay focused. But the fear that lodged in the pit of his stomach was something entirely new to him. He’d always taken every challenge as an adventure. Suddenly he was seeing in his mind’s eye the faces of two children who had come to mean more to him than his own life. The thought of them alone, frightened and facing such an enormous task, had him doing something he hadn’t done since he was a boy. With each step he took he found himself whispering a prayer that they would be kept safe from harm.

Andi was half crazed with worry. At first, after Donovan left, she’d been paralyzed with fear. Unable to do more than stare at the phone, willing it to ring. The silence of her house mocked her.

How often had she told the children not to slam the door? Not to shout? Now she would give anything to hear them slam the door and shout that they were home.

This couldn’t be happening. Why would anyone want to harm her children? When she’d put the question to Donovan, he had said simply that he would find them.

He would find them. She needed to believe that. If not, she wouldn’t be able to stand the tension a moment longer.

Unable to sit still, she paced. With each step she prayed. Please, please, please. The word rang in her mind with an urgency that had her pausing to press a fist to her mouth to keep from sobbing.

She thought of all the times she’d seen tearful parents in the news pleading for the return of their children. Such stories always touched her mother’s heart and made her react with complete sympathy. She’d always wondered how ordinary people coped with such horrifying incidents. And now it was happening to her. A nightmare from which she couldn’t wake up.

The shrill ring of the telephone shattered the silence. At first all Andi could do was stare at it. Then she snatched up the receiver.

“Yes. Hello.”

“Hey, Andi.” Her brother’s pleasant greeting had her closing her eyes. “I’m on a plane bound for London. My secretary said you called with something important. What’s up?”

“Oh, Champ.” Just hearing his voice had the tears starting again.

“Hey, now. Come on, honey. Tell me what’s going on.”

In halting tones she described what had happened.

Her brother was a man accustomed to taking charge. She could hear him speaking to someone, then his voice, shaking with frustration, came back on the line. “We won’t be landing at Heathrow for another six hours. As soon as I’m through customs, I’ll grab the next flight back. I won’t be able to be with you until some time tomorrow, or possibly the day after that. Until then you’ve got to hang tough, Andi. Is Donovan Lassiter with you?”

“He’s searching for Cory and Taylor.”

“If anyone can find them, Donovan will.” She could hear the misery in his voice. “I’m really sorry I can’t be there right now, little sis. Hold on.”

“I will.”

“I love you, Andi.”

“I know. I love you, too, Champ. Hurry home.”

When the line went dead, she stood clutching the phone in both hands, fighting the rising hysteria. But she needed to be strong. For Cory’s sake. For Taylor’s sake. And for her own sake. She knew that if she gave in now, a floodgate would be opened, and she would weep until there were no tears left.

Donovan glanced up through the towering trees and frowned at the darkening sky, where rain clouds threatened. Just what they needed, he thought with rising impatience. A storm, to wash away what little trail he’d been able to follow.

The children had walked along the banks of the stream until it dropped off a hundred-foot cliff into a thicket far below. At first, seeing it, Donovan had feared they’d tumbled over the edge. But farther on he’d come across more prints that told him they had cautiously moved ahead.

As he picked his way through dense foliage and climbed over fallen logs, he suddenly caught sight of only one pair of footprints. From the design left in the earth by the sneakers, he knew them to be Cory’s. And from the depth of the impression, he was carrying a load. Which could only mean that little Taylor had grown too tired to go on.

The boy was carrying her, probably on his back.

Even while Donovan admired Cory’s courage, he felt a rising need to catch up with them soon. It was tough enough navigating a forest alone. It would be a daunting task for Cory to attempt it with the added burden of half his own body weight dragging him down.

Donovan felt an even greater sense of urgency as he stepped up his pace.

Andi stood by the phone while rain pelted the windows. The state police had alerted her that the driver of the van had been caught and was now being interrogated. But the children hadn’t been with him. He claimed he’d fled the van after seeing the helicopter, leaving Cory and Taylor inside. The report stated that Donovan was in the woods, searching for them, as was a team of trackers with dogs.

“Did he say why he took my children?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. We don’t have that information yet. But we’ll get back to you with a complete report as soon as we know anything.”

With a heavy heart Andi watched the storm clouds rolling in. With each crash of thunder or flash of lightning, she had to choke back a sob, knowing her children were out there somewhere, alone and frightened.

Alone and frightened.

The thought tore at her heart and had her closing her eyes and whispering a prayer for courage. For Cory and Taylor. For those who tracked them. And for herself, that she could keep her nerves at bay and hold herself together.

Every tick of the clock reminded her of the passing of time. Every minute seemed like an hour. Every hour an eternity. She’d never felt so helpless. While everyone else was out searching for her children, she was forced to remain here by the phone, waiting, hoping, praying. And pacing.

She paced to the windows, peering into the gathering darkness. A blinding flash of lightning streaked across the heavens, followed by a crash of thunder that shook the house and rattled the windows.

The storm was passing directly overhead.

Minutes later there was another jagged slice of lightning. Andi blinked. Had she seen something moving in the woods? Could it be the children? Or was she just so desperate to see them, she’d imagined it?

She stepped out onto the front porch and strained to see into the woods across the gravel road. Another streak of lightning lit up the sky, and she was certain she’d seen movement.

“Cory!” She shouted into the wind, but the sound of thunder drowned out her voice.

“Cory. Taylor!” She started running, unmindful of the torrent of rain that pelted her and the mud that sucked at her shoes as she raced over the front yard and across the gravel road. In a flash the men who had been guarding her fell into step behind her.

“Andi.” Donovan hurried out of the woods, his hair plastered to his face, his clothes soaked and flattened to his skin.

“Oh, Donovan. You didn’t find them.” Andi fell into his arms, feeling her heart breaking into a million pieces.

“I lost their trail when the rain started. But they’re nearby, Andi. I know it.” He gathered her close, wishing with all his heart that he could offer her something more than words. What she needed, what they both needed, was to see the children safe. To hold them in their arms. “They’re headed in this direction. Every indication is that…”

“Mom!”

At the sound of Cory’s voice, Andi and Donovan looked up and caught sight of Cory stepping out of the woods not more than a hundred yards away. On his back was his little sister, her chubby arms wrapped around his neck in a death grip.

“Oh, my darlings.” Andi raced across the distance that separated them and dropped to her knees in the mud. She hugged them to her heart, her tears mingling with the rain.

As she pried Taylor from her brother’s back, the boy looked up at Donovan. “I was scared.”

Taylor lifted her head from her mother’s shoulder to nod. “Me, too. Cory said it was all right to be afraid, as long as we didn’t let it keep us from doing what we had to.”